60 FPS : Final Animation

60 FPS from randolfd on Vimeo.

Here is the final animation. Thanks to everyone who made this project a success. I wish all of you continued health and prosperity. I'm going to rest a bit, and after resting, will work on a new animation soon (perhaps "The Final Task" sequel).

Until next time...

Randolf Dimalanta 

Mission Accomplished

As of Thursday Sept. 18. I finally passed the MFA Thesis Defense portion in order to achieve my degree. I'm currently making final changes to my animation and blog. Once they are completed in the next couple of days, I will post the link here.

Thanks to everyone for your support.

Randolf

Checking In

I haven't posted in  awhile. Things are going well. The animation is as complete as it can be, my document is almost done, just a few citations to update, and just an upload to the blog site that presents my animation curriculum. 

I'm excited that the end is near (fingers crossed), I'm not done yet and will work like crazy to finish things off by Tuesday, with enough to put together a simple powerpoint presentation by Wednesday. 

Thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement. Here we go. 

Woo Hoo. 

Randolf

60 FPS: Week 16 - 90% complete.

60 FPS: 90 percent complete from randolfd on Vimeo.

60 fps: Week 13 Animatic

Almost done. I'm planning to go over the phoneme shapes for Ollie's mouth in the beginning and end of the animation. Check previous post for other changes left to do. 

60 fps: Week 11 Animatic

Here is the latest animatic. I added more background noise, new end ollie shot, and a smoother reporter opening. Lots more stuff to do however during the next coming weeks.

• Tone down room tone. Too loud. 6/24
• First Ollie shot (betta performances you see)audio pops in dialogue (final cut).6/24
• Ollie 2 (Check Phonemes). Check beginning and “Expert”
• Ollie 3 (Both of these movements) Check tangents (smoother throughout.) 6/24
• Reporter to Blue Guy “Body Language” Check Phonemes
• Blue Guy Head, check tangents for smoothness at the end.
• Sound for smoothness during box jumps (swooshes)
• Ollie (after cowboy) shakespeare gesture, before hand goes on chin.
  Analyze the situation you see (move mouth more).
• Reporter: Can you give us an example? Smooth out tangents.
• Ollie smooth Mouth tangents.
• Ollie smooth head tangents “Mother No”
  
• Check Rig Creators
• Refine acknowledgements list.

"Acting for Animation" Icebreakers

Introductions: Students interview each other for 10 minutes, and introduce each other.
"The Greatest Thing": Students get into groups. One person comes in and pitches the greatest thing he has ever seen. The others in the group act accordingly once they find out what that thing is.

"Poker Face" : Students are dealt Texas Hold Em hands. Once they see their cards, they have to make a face that is opposite of what they normally would express if they were to see this hand in a real game. The intensity must also be expressed.

I Love You Honey: Everyone sits in a circle, one person is in the middle. The person in the middle approaches a person and says "I Love You Honey", and the person must respond (without laughing), "I love you too, but I just can't smile". If the person laughs, they are IT.

Murder

King and Slave

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

Adjective Marathon

Moods Game

Waiting For The Bus.

Pokerface

Palm Tree, Elephant, Giraffe

Freeze with Props or Without

2 Line Vocabulary

Baby I love you honey

Questions Only

Week 10.5 : 60 fps Animatic V.2

60 fps Animatic Week 10.2 from randolfd on Vimeo.


Update Clock Model

Reporter Opening Shot

• "Integral Part" - Eyes are disappearing.
  
• "Animated Production"
  
• "And of course fear"
  
• "Mood and personality"
  
• "Free character rigs

Refine Ollie phonemes.


Ollie "step out I say, step out!" - Fix hix when looking into the camera.


Reporter Lip Sync "What would you say is the most important thing to remember."


Igor :

• Looser Wrists on "Castle Door","Mahagony"
  

Drink Box -

• Move faster when reporter says "happy", its too floaty.
  

Reporter:

• Animate and Render "Interesting"
  

Cowboy-

• Smother arcs during first surprise.
  
• Same Ambition everybody else does.
  
• Flick wrist: head down to the beach.
  
• Remove movement to the right during "You know, its totally cool"
  
• Knod head more "you know what I'm saying dude" for exaggeration.
  

Reporter

• add lip movement "I see what you mean"
  

Ollie

• Moves back to fast "what do you feel is the most important part"
  

Ollie: Crazy kind of Olive Loaf

• Break wrists
  
• Add height to body.
  
• Smooth out head arc during "Balogne"
  

Reporter:

• Follow through on "Give us an example"
  

Ollie: Last Mother No

• Fix jaw, his teeth are coming out.
  
• Lip sync on "you see"
  
• "Talking to mother on the telephone"
  
• Remove smile from first mother no.
  
• Switch rez of body "completely different"
  
• Open mouth on inhale "spoken to my mother in quite some time"
  
• Lock eyes after "stuffing food in her purse"
  

Ollie: Last mother no.

• Move mouth.
  

Week 10 : 60 fps Animatic

60 fps Animatic : Week 10 from randolfd on Vimeo.

Week 9 60 fps : Animatic

60 fps: Week 8 Updated Animatic

60 fps: Animatic Week 8 from randolfd on Vimeo.

360. I may have to record or edit the beginning reporter monologue track. "It brings aniamated characters come to life" doesn't make sense".

Add roomtone.

Change BG image of Ollie to split laughing and crying.

Ollie 1

• 1930. Clean up phonemes throughout entire clip.

Reporter 2.

• "Important Thing to Remember". His chin goes into his chest.

2743. Ollie phonemes

Igor Clip.

• Add organ music.
• Add door creek.

Igor performance:

• Look up when he leaves.
• Hold CMon 12 frames.
• Watch Arcs in Arms.

Blueguy

• Keep eyebrows moving.
• Land on identifiable eyebrow emotions. Angry and happy.
• Look into camera to show off.
• Add finishing movement.

Box

• "Hard to get emotions" Add plateau or moving hold.
• Add head knods to let reporter know he's listening.
• Jumping Noise.
• Landing Noise
• Sad Noise.

TRex

• Hickup or Scream "get out of here" sound

Cowboy

• Eastwood whistle while walking, transitions to interview.
• 5716 - hitch in hands.
• 5810 - "Americano" look into the screen sooner.
• 5860 - Fix hand that goes into his chest.
• 5948 - "Beach" flick wrist faster and shorten movement.

Ollie 6009

• Close mouth
• Begin with him looking to our left.
• After talented, have him knod 6084.
• 6178- Neck flings back too fast.

Ollie 6796

• Crazy kind of Olive Loaf.
• L. Phoneme
• Break wrists
• Eyes look up.

Guitarbite Clip

• In Final Cut move to the left.

Final Ollie

• "Telephone" blink 2 x.
• Gearchange. "Sometime"7529.
• 7567 -"Cracks a Joke" Bigger eyes. Rounder Eyebrows to get happy surprise.
• 7590 - Close gap in mouth.
• 7843 - Gearchange to happy confident (same pose as beginning of clip) in order to contrast and set off last "MOTHER NO!" emotion.

Mother No Block In : Week 8

Curriculum Blog Posted

This is still in the works. I'm going to populate this on a weekly basis, but it looks like its going to work for the time being.

The reason for the blog format was because of the ease of its formatting features, ability to post video clips, and the ability for students to respond and and for me to leave feedback.

http://animateemotion.blogspot.com/

Week 7 : 60 fps Animatic

"60 fps" Animatic Week 7 from randolfd on Vimeo.

Week 6 : Animatic Update

60 fps : Animatic Week 6 Update from randolfd on Vimeo.

Week 5 : Shot Updates

This week, I blocked in the beginning Ollie shots and fixed the reporter's eyebrows. The eyebrows are now used sparingly, specifically during accents and at the end of sentences.


60 fps : Week 5 Update from randolfd on Vimeo. 

61 Minutes : Animatic 4

61 Minutes Animatic Week 4 from randolfd on Vimeo.

"61 Minutes" Animatic Version 3

60 Minutes Parody : Animatic No. 3 from randolfd on Vimeo. 

This is the latest animatic. Things to work on still....

• 61 Minutes Opening Graphic
  
• Igor lighting is too harsh.
• Translucent face on reporter during Mother scene.
• Missing body on Ollie at the end. Not sure why this happened...check reference file. 
• Phonemes for reporter and main actors.

Posing Images

These are the images I plan to use for the "posing" section of my animation.

"61 Minutes" Revised Animatic 2

61 Minutes Animatic 2 from randolfd on Vimeo.

"60 Minute" Animatic Parody

"60 Minutes" Animatic Parody on Emotion from randolfd on Vimeo.

This is an animatic for what I had in mind for my final animation. Its strings along various animations completed for my thesis and its a parody on the show "60 Minutes".

"60 Minutes : Bob Dylan" Format Styling.

So, I'm putting together my script for the final MFA animation, which is going to be a newsreel 60 Minutes inspired style. I came across this format that fits what I had in mind. I liked it because it shows a clip, then an interview close up. It then cuts to the interviewer to show reaction.

Final Document Setup & Visual Aid Advice

Final Document Setup:
a. Title page
b. Abstract
c. Title page
d. Copyright page
e. Committee and Department Head signatures page
f. Dedication (optional)
g. Acknowledgements (optional but recommended)
h. Table of Contents
i. List of Tables (if 4 or more tables are in text)
j. List of Figures (if 4 or more figures are in text)

Settin up Your Visual Aids

Website Architecture II : Flow Chart

Website Architecture

I. INTRODUCTION:
The intro will be in HTML, but for the approving committee, it may begin as a Word Document, which will the then proceed to the actual website.

• Overview of the Inquiry
• Statement of Intent
• Acknowledgments.

II. CURRICULUM

i. Animating Emotion Overview

ii. “12 Principles of Animation” Overview - How is it used in this presentation?

iii. Animation Process - Keyframing, Positioning, Timing, Detail and Refinement

iv. Importance of Feedback and how it relates to this project.


A. Animation Exercises (11 total). Each exercise will include the following.

1) Assignment Description

2) Lecture and Lessons

• a. Video Tutorials or HTML
• b. Things to watch out for (This is based on my observations and my findings of conducting the exercise myself.
• c. Purpose of this exercise.
• d. Show example of the exercise.

3. Pre – Planning

a. Understanding the scene and scene analysis. (Some questions include):

• What is happening in this scene?
• What is the purpose of this scene?
• What happened to each character before and after this scene?
• What is each character's state of mind

b. Gesture - What body positions is your character going to
display in order to convey the appropriate mood for the
scene.

c. Intensity - At what intensity are these gestures occurring?
Can the intensity be adjusted to enhance the scene?

d. Research

• Video reference – Personally film, or view video resources to serve as reference for movement and timing in your animation.
  
• Use the step feature of your computer program to be familiar with frame count.
• Still Imagery or Mirrors - Use a mirror and or a digital camera to capture the emotion in your face.
  

e. Sketching

• Gesture - Sketch the body positions and expression, use this as a frame of reference when you begin animating.
• Placement - Where are the characters placed in the shot in order to convey the mood clearly?

4. Animation -
The animation process for each exercise is the same, and will be featured it a higher level within the site. This page can serve as a resource for the animation process.

a. Posing and breakdown. Using your sketches and video reference. Block in your poses using the "bookend" technique, and explain how this is done in each exercise.

b. Adjust timing and positioning

c. Add keyframes for:

• Anticipation
• Arcs

d. Add Overlapping Action and Followthrough.

e. Refinement

• Apply moving holds
• Using the Graph Editor.

5. Evaluation -
A separate section on "evaluation" will be written and presented prior to the presentation of the exercises in the curriculum. A link will be available for students to read this section. Show your animated clip to a peer to get feedback from them.

Personal evaluation can be achieved by answering the following questions.

• Is emotion clearly communicated in the scene through the characters? How can it be improved?
• Can anything be exaggerated?
• Can anything be simplified?
• Can we infer a deeper understanding of the character in the scene?

6. Tips and Tricks

• Advice from professional animators.
• Common pitfalls for each assignment and workarounds.

III. 60.2 Seconds "How to Run Off a Cliff With Style",
An Animated Newsreel : by Randolf Dimalanta
I will be animating this next quarter and is used as an example of what can be done utilizing the techniques presented in this thesis presentation.

Format: This will be done in a Quicktime movie file. Or it will be uploaded to a free online server, where the animation could be embedded within an HTML . A nice site that fits right into this presentation is Aniboom.com

IV. Animation and tutorial gallery:

All of the animations, as well all of the tutorial found in the curriculum will be presented on a single HTML page.

Format: Mostly quicktime movies or they will be uploaded to a free server where they will be embedded.

V. CONCLUSION

References


VI. FURTHER STUDY & Other Resources

• Resources
• Bibliography
• Categorized Websites
• Animator Websites
• Links to Laban Motion Analysis
• Link to Ed Hooks site
• Link to Aniboom Site and other Animation Sites
• Video Reference Sites

Week 9 Check-in

I had to submit an assignment which lists the things I still need to do to complete my thesis presentation. I thought I'd post it as a reminder for myself.

While studying illustration in college, I had an instructor who had a great way of critiquing. When it was my turn in the critique, she would look at it, appear to analyze it and would ask me, “So Randolf, what do you think?”. Its at that point, that I tear into myself, and list 15 things that I did wrong, and that I could improve. When I was done, she would agree with everything I’ve said and would say, “Yes, you are correct!” – that’s when I get depressed – “I suck”, I silently say to myself. She finishes off the critique by prioritizing the things I had mentioned that were wrong in my illustration. This technique really works well and is useful as it gives me a good place to start and improve.

Many years after the fact, I asked her about that and she said that we (the students), during a critique, will be much harder on ourselves than she could ever be. The trick however, is to train the student to be at that point where they are able to be critical of their work because they begin to see their work in the way their audience does, but doing so takes perseverance and patience from the instructor and takes years to accomplish. In this assignment, we are doing the same thing, and are beginning to view our thesis with a fine tooth-comb. I already know that I have to proof read my presentation more so than I’ve already done, but here are other things I need to work on regarding its content:

For the MFA Computer Animation thesis, we have to put together a final animation, one that supports our findings and that serves as an example of the high caliber work we are capable of. Last quarter, a recommendation came from an instructor, encouraging me to weave my animation examples together into a documentary style animation about emotion. At the time, they seemed disparate and by putting them together, my presentation will be stronger for viewers of my thesis. The new piece would serve as an example of what could be done by doing my exercises. This week, I’m realizing that I have not mentioned or included this newly integrated animation into my thesis presentation. Not only must it be included, but I should also use the piece to highlight certain points in presented in my curriculum.

Corresponding to Ed Hooks this week, made me realize that the topic of Laban Motion Analysis is too broad to cover in a single section of my thesis. I could however point out a single aspect of it that I had found useful. One aspect of Laban Motion Analysis I found helpful is its technique of identifying the intensity of a particular gesture. As a reviewer for my thesis, I would be interested in seeing how I would teach “intensity training” (for lack of a better term) in the curriculum. I have a couple ideas of exercises that I’m currently using with a class this quarter, and hoping to include it as a preplanning tool for one of the posing exercises mentioned in my curriculum.

The mention of posing exercises for the animator also brings to mind the topic of gesture. I’ld like to locate sources and references on the topic to make my point stronger. I plan to reference Glen Vilppu’s Drawing Manual, Bridgman’s Life Drawing Anatomy Manual, and John Vanderpoh’s Guide to Lifedrawing, all of these texts are standard texts in an animation studio. Referencing these books will make my topic on gesture stronger, now I just have to sit and sift through the pages of thse texts. I’m confident I will find what I’m looking for.

As we move into week 10 and 11, in addition to writing my thesis presentation, I need to come up with a working script for the animation I mentioned earlier. In order to meet my graduationdeadline, production will need to begin next quarter, which means that a script will have to be completed by the end of THIS quarter (Um, that’s in two weeks). Currently, I have an idea that my documentary styling will be following the look and feel of the news show “60 Minutes”. To begin, I found a great example on youtube.com that has the styling and formatting I want. You can watch it here.

Lots of stuff to do, and it doesn’t help that relatives come into town. They are a nice distraction, and I would separate themselves from them in order to complete the work, but these are “high ranking” relatives like my Mom, Dad and Brother and its not that often I spend time with them. Plus, I don’t want them getting angry, so I have to make sure they are okay (Filipino parents are sensitive you know, or at least mine are). I have found open windows in which to work and by this Tuesday, everyone will be on a flight back to the West Coast. I hope to press the gas and move quickly and efficiently this week to prepare for next quarter. For some reason, I don’t feel worried and it stems from the confidence I’m getting back from my leg healing. I’m on both feet, and am only using one crutch.

Woohoo!

"60 Minutes" Style Production Example

To integrate my animations into one cohesive production, I am following the recommendations of my instructor to create a documentary style presentation. It would require that I have another character to act as the host, who is interviewing the various characters in my animations. For a while, I thought about the show "60 Minutes" and how that was a good example of a news documentary style that many people are used to seeing. I like how it beging, and how the dialogue track integrates with the footage. There are a lot of options to try, and I may just try all of them for variety.

Working Bibliography : References

"Empathy." The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Company. 02 Jun. 2007. .

"Emotion." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 03 Jun. 2007. .

Hooks, Ed. "Acting for Animators". Portsmouth, NH. Heinemann Press. 2000.

Jones, Chuck. “Extremes and In-Betweens: A Career in Animation”. 2003.

Lasseter, John. Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D Computer Animation. July 1987. Computer Graphics, pp. 35-44, 21:4. 03 June 2007.

Mayerson, Mark. Mayerson on Animation. 2006. Blogger.com. 09 May, 2007.

Thomas, Frank and Ollie Johnston. "The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation". New York, Hyperion. 1981.

Thomas, Frank and Ollie Johnston. The 12 Principles of Animation. 2002. FrankAndOllie.com. AWN. 03 June 2007. http://frankanollie.com/PhysicalAnimation.html

Whitaker, Harold and John Halas. “Timing for Animation”. Burlington, MA. Focal Press. 2004.


ANIMATION WEBSITES:
The following websites have been used as inspiration for the workshop component of the thesis. These animators, if not already, will be contacted to provide feedback and input on this project.

Animation Mentor
http://www.animationmentor.com/

Bright, Rocky
http://www.thingamatoon.com

Christen, Simon
http://www.simonchristen.com/

Haas, John-Dennis
http://www.jeandenis.net/

Harris, Mark:
http://www.markcharris.com/

Jeffers, Leif
http://www.leifjeffers.com/

Luera, Robin
http://www.melvinandi.com/

Navone, Victor
http://www.navone.org

Rosario, Nick
http://www.nickrosario.com/

Pascual, Ruel
http://www.ruelpascual.com/

Spline Doctors
http://www.splinedoctors.com/links/index.html

Tan, Melvin
http://www.melvin-tan.net/

Thesis Outline 030208:

THESIS OUTLINE (revised 3/02/08)

”How to Run Off a Cliff With Style : Animating Emotion in Characters”
by Randolf Dimalanta

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ABSTRACT:

1) Open with Frank Thomas and Ollied Johnston quotation, “Emotion…it is one of animation’s greatest strengths and certainly one of the most important aspects of this art for the young animator to study and master.

2) Introduce the reader to the importance of emotion in character animation.

3) Begin to define the project, what I intend to explore and how the presentation is broken up.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A project like this is never completed alone, and so this section is a thank you to the following people: Dori-Little Heck, Patricio Fernandez, Thomas Joule, Ron Wade, Carol Parenteau, Jacob Kaltenbach, Meryl Blau, Doug Glen, Rocky Bright, Brian Tinker, Christina Labrise, Gretchen Thomas, Lee Lanier, Ed Hooks, all my students who have been the guinea pigs for this experiment, and my family Angela, Aisa, Iman and Mayumi.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

INTRODUCTION

1) State the importance of animating emotion in characters and how character drives story. Show examples of these.

2) Explain how story drives the animation industry through interesting characters.

3) Explain how learning these skills happens too late in the animation student’s training and that it should happen sooner.

4) State the purpose of this project, which is to develop an animation curriculum that teaches the intermediate animation student how to animate emotion.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

OVERVIEW of the INQUIRY

1) Explain the order of the presentation which will begin by defining “emotion”, followed by an overview of the “12 Principles of Animation” and its importance to the animation industry, explain the current state of emotion animation and finally, mention the curriculum for the intermediate animation student, which is taught through a series of exercises, that covers pre-planning tips, advice from professionals, stage acting techniques, video tutorials and which is then followed by class discussion questions.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

STATEMENT OF INTENT
Here I list the reasons why I am choosing to explore this inquiry, and how the inquiry is broken up.

Reasons:

1) Learning emotion animation rarely occurs at the intermediate level. By providing this curriculum, it exposes industry standard methods for animating emotion in CG characters, which results in better prepared students for entry into the field.

2) It is part of my value system to give back to the community, though teaching and by developing a website where anyone can access the information to better their skills.

3) It helps generate samples for my professional portfolio.

For clarity of presentation, the project will be divided into 5 parts.

PART I: “What is Emotion”
Define emotion and what it means in animation characters. Review influence of the Golden Age of Disney and Warner Bros. and their impact in the field. List 3 examples.

PART II: “Acting for Animators”
Focuses on the mechanics of movement and acting principles as it relates to the animation student. Items to be covered in this section include gesture, various acting techniques, and laban motion analysis. Mention “Acting for Animators” text by Ed Hooks.

PART III: “Importance of Pre-Planning”
Covers the importance of pre-planning for the animator. Subjects covered in this section include: Knowing the character, understanding the scene in relation to the story, posing, shooting and using video reference.

PART IV : “The Animation Workshop”
Begin by explaining the purpose of the curriculum and the importance of feedback and constant practice.

This section is the “ 11 Week Animation Workshop”.
Each exercise will include an assignment description, objectives, animated examples, background information and a process for how to begin. The lesson will end with tips and tricks from professionals, discussion questions, links to resources for further study and video tutorials for select exercises.

The animation exercises / assignments are:

1) 2 Bouncing Balls Animation
2) Drink Box Animation
3) Pose Sketching for Emotion (This is drawn by hand).
4) Create CG Poses that Convey an Emotion. (Same as above, but is now done on the computer).
5) Gear Change I (Animate a character experiencing two emotions).
6) Gear Change II (Animate a character experiencing 4 emotions) (2 weeks).
7) Animate a character pushing and pulling a heavy weight (2 weeks).
8) Character Monologue (2 weeks).

BONUS Assignment
Animate a character dialogue (2 characters)

PART V
This refers to the website component of the presentation. Prior to completion, this thesis project will be available for view online by anyone interested, specifically intermediate animation students, animation websites, and professional animators in the industry. Animation instructors can refer to the site as a resource for their classroom.

= = = = = = = = = = = = =

GUIDING RESEARCH QUESTIONS (Not included here, but was included with the thesis pitch):

1) How is emotion defined in animation and why is it important?
2) To what capacity is emotion animation taught in animation schools?
3) What has been said by working professionals about emotion?
4) What tips and tricks do animators have to share about emotion animation?
5) How can emotion be achieved in a character?
6) What are effective animation techniques?
7) What are some acting techniques that an animator can use?
8) How can this help the animation industry?
9) How can this be marketed?

= = = = = = = = = =

CONCLUSION:
Comments on further study
Laban Motion Analysis
Ed Hooks: Acting for Animators Workshop
Getting feedback regarding your work (I’m currently reviewing resources that could help with this).

= = = = = = = = = =

OUTLINE & THESIS CHAPTERS:

= = = = = = = = = =

REFERENCES:

Alternative Lesson Plan Assignments

Below are alternate lesson plan assignments that incorporate the different levels Bloom's Taxonomy.

This assignment was challenging as it forced me to think outside of what I already knew. I learned a lot. I wasn't sure of the difference between "conventional" and "unconventional". I'm guessing the unconventional assignments were assignments that I normally wouldn't do because they seem out of place, but offered a differerent point of view for solving a problem. What do you guys think? If any assignments come up while you are reading, by all means, shoot them my way. Thanks in advance.

Randolf


= = = = = = = = = = = =

Lesson 2 : "The Animated Drink Box"
How do you achieve emotion in a character who has no facial features arms, or legs? In this lesson you will see that this is possible. By understanding what creates emotion in inanimate objects, you will have a better understanding how emotion is achieved in more complex characters. To practice doing so, you will be animating a pre-rigged drink box cg character. The objective is to animate the drink box so that he clearly conveys a series of emotions . You will be exploring the principles of animation and you will also learn effective methods for planning that will help get your point across. Let's begin.

Conventional Assignments:

1) Type a one paragraph synopsis of what your drinkbox is going to do in this animation. To begin, have your character show one emotion, then have him experience an event or problem (that occurs offscreen - is the easiest), and end by having the drinkbox react to this event. Show the viewer if he is successful or unsuccessful in solving the problem or after experiencing the event.

2) Storyboard the above story in 5 panels.

3) Practice keyframing in Maya by creating animations that show your drinkbox hopping in three different ways. The drink box should hop a minimum of five times and should travel.

4) The "principles of animation" are an integral part of this lesson. In four short separate animations, animate the drinkbox demonstrating the following animation principles:

• squash and stretch
• timing
• ease in and ease out
• overlapping action

5) Using the above storyboard as a guide, create an animation of your drinkbox showing an emotion, experiencing an event or problem, then have the drinkbox react to this event by shifting to another emotion.


Unconventional Assignments

1) Research animations online that feature inanimate objects expressing an emotion. Be prepared to share how these emotions were achieved. Which ones were effective and which ones were not?

2) Act out your scene in front of a video camera and use this footage as reference. Yes, you have to believe that you are the drink box. If you didn't have arms and legs, how would you convey the emotion, happy? sad?

3) Draw on paper your drink box in the following emotions:

• sadness
• happy
• proud
• dizzy
• inquisitive.

4) On your computer, pose your drinkbox rig in the emotions listed above using the previous drawings as a guide. Use the bookend technique to hold these animations for one second (24 frames), then shift to another emotion.

5) Answer or provide your input to the following: What emotions were the easiest to create in the drinkbox? How did you achieve them? What emotions were difficult to achieve and how did you solve for this?

Essay Stucture

All of us in school will eventually create an essay. Its a formal method of conveying an idea, analysis or defending a stance to an argument. We all need reminders, myself included so here are some tips. In any any essay, the basic structure is that you have a beginning, a middle an end. The image below explains these parts in greater detail followed by a series of guiding questions.

Steps in the Reaction Essay Process

1. Read or reread the text with specific questions in mind.
2. Jot down or pay attention to basic ideas, events, and names.
3. Identify and consider the most important ideas.
• a. How do you feel about what was said?
• b. Do you agree or disagree with the author?
• c. Have you had any applicable experience?
4. Does the evidence in the article support the statements the writer made? Give examples; be specific.
5. What other sources agree or disagree with the major claim? (Find additional critiques.)
   
   MIU Online Lectures. "Warrants and Arguments". Miami International University Online. 21 Feb. 2008.
   

Thesis Checkin - Tune Up

At the beginning of the quarter it was essential, and halfway through the term, its a good idea to check directions again. For the most part, my direction has gotten more focused. I've added a slight change to my audience, which will affect how my thesis will be presented in the end. I have a couple of directions to explore regarding "Laban Motion Analysis", the theoretical acting component to my thesis and Ed Hooks' thoughts on "Laban Motion Analysis". Looking ahead, I'm thinking about refining and filling in the blanks for the exercises which make up my curriculum, and finally (and this makes me nervous...) is that I still have to plan an unexpected addition to the animation component of my thesis which I will explain below.

My major claim is that animating emotion can be taught to intermediate animation students, after this week, I've decided to change things a bit, I've decided to gear my presentation towards instructors as well. This seems obvious, but I didn't see it at first. This change came about while doing work for the "Teaching Methodologies" class with Michael Greene. I figured that I needed to include myself, acting as the animation instructor, as I will be using this specific curriculum for the classes I teach. In the class, I put together a list of objectives and a workable lesson plan that made me see how the exercises should be presented. I had not done so up to this point, and it would be best to begin putting this information together before the quarter ends. My main audience, the MFA approving body, are instructors as well, and one of things they will be watching out for, is how clear and well presented my curriculum is. This includes learning objectives, lesson plans, exercise descriptions, tips from professionals, video tutorials (for some) and a means to assess progress for the student. I have 10 other exercises to do this for, and if I can commit this to paper, I would feel much better.

A subject that came up last week was "Laban Motion Analysis". Developed at the turn of the century, this was a system which broke down movement for actors to four major states. Presently, ideas are included in acting classes for animators. One of the main proponents for this method is Ed Hooks. Hooks is the author for "Acting for Animators", the book which gave me the idea for this project, and has since acted as my guide. The book however, doesn't mention the Laban Method, and so an inquiry is in order. I hope to make contact with him early next week. Some of the driving questions regarding "Laban Motion Analysis" that will guide my research include: What is Laban Motion Analysis? How does it benefit actors? How can it benefit animators? How is this used in acting classes for animators? How can this information be simplified and edited so that it can be integrated into my curriculum?

One concern I had developed last quarter, was when my thesis was reviewed by my MFA thesis committee. It is still not clear, but I wasn't sure if people were in agreement of the development of a website to represent my curriculum, I also don't think they liked that my project didn't have a final animation to accompany the thesis, which is what usually happens. The input I got from my acting advisors, was that my idea was good. When my work was reviewed last quarter, my project consisted of examples from the animation exercises presented in my curriculum. This, as well as creating the website, seemed to be enough.

This was not the case. After my thesis was reviewed, someone made the comment that my animations were disparate and that something needed to be done to make it look like one piece and there were some in agreement. I had some help, and came up with the idea of stringing all of my animations into a "documentary" style presentation. Imagine a show like "60 Minutes", where the animated characters were being interviewed about the topic of emotion. These interviews would be strung in-between the different animated examples and would also have an interviewer or host who would guide these characters. The idea had merit, seemed fun to do and was feasible to complete within the timeframe.

To some extent, I agree to what was suggested. By putting this animation together in this way, it would serve as a good example for others as it unifies everything I have done. The extra animated footage would also feature the characters in different emotional states (I envision these to be quite entertaining). The hard part, is that since this idea came at the last minute, that I should be using this quarter to plan before executing the animations next quarter. This includes developing a simple script and a storyboard so that I have a better understanding of how the final animation is going to be put together. The sledding accident which broke my leg didn't help and its been frustrating, but things are getting better. So in my schedule I hope to include time to put this together. I'm expected to begin animating and putting this together next quarter, otherwise I won't be able to finish in time for thesis defense.

Below is a tentative schedule for this quarter. I think everything explained (excluding the animation) above can be achieved, and once completed, would serve as a good base for the next two quarters. Mentally, I would like to have this work out of the way before I animate next quarter.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Week 7:
Send Ed Hooks inquiry
Develop learning objectives for exercises 1 and 3.
Research Laban Motion Analysis
Create Script for final animation.
Research and make contact with USC animation group.

Week 8:
Develop learning objectives for exercises 4 and 5.
Research Laban Motion Analysis
Review professional animator interviews and note where information will be placed.
Garner script feedback.

Week 9:
Refine Laban Motion Analysis
Develop learning objectives for exercises 6 and 7.
Storyboard script for final animation.
Cite 2D and Lifedrawing Examples
Gesture Research

Week 10:
Develop learning objectives for exercises 8 and 9.
Refine storyboard script for final animation.
Work on thesis rough.
Eyes Research

Week 11:
Develop learning objectives for exercises 10 and 11.
Submit thesis rough.

MLA Style: Theses Published and Unpublished

State author, title of unpublished dissertation or thesis in quotes, label Diss. or MA thesis, name of university, and year.

Elmendorf, James. "The Military and the Mall: Society and Culture in Long Beach, California." BA thesis. Hampshire College, 1995.

Jackson, Marjorie. "The Oboe: A Study of Its Development and Use." Diss. Columbia U, 1962.

Underline title if dissertation is published:

Chan, Marjorie K.M. Fuzhou Phonology: A Non-Linear Analysis of Tone and Stress. Diss. U of Washington, 1985.

Gregory, T.R. The C-Value Enigma. PhD thesis. U. of Guelph, ON, 2002.

MLA Style: Weblogs and Blogs

Last Name, First. "Title of Entry." Weblog Entry. Title of Weblog. Date Posted. Date Accessed (URL).

Example:
Romano, Lou. "Phoenix." Lou Romano. Feb. 1, 2008. 9 Feb. 2008. <http://louromano.blogspot.com>

To cite an archived weblog entry, navigate to the archived source and provide the exactURL to the post:
Hawhee, Debra. "Hail, Speech!" Weblog entry. Blogos. 30 April 2007. 23 May 2007 <http://dhawhee.blogs.com/d_hawhee/2007/04/index.html>

Other examples of citing digital sources can be found on the OWL Purdue site here:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/09/

MLA Style: Interviews

MLA Citation for Professional Interviews:
Interviewee's last name, First name and Initial. "Title of the interview (if given)." Interview (if untitled) with interviewer's name (if pertinent). Day, month, year, edition (if radio, TV, or periodical). Publication location: Publishing company, year (if given). Page numbers (if given).

example (Use this one):
Last Name of interviewee, First Name. "Animating Emotion Interview". Randolf Dimalanta. 10 Oct. 2007.

example:
Lansbury, Angela. Interview. Off-Camera: Conversations with the Makers of Prime-Time Television. By Richard Levinson and William Link. New York: Plume-NAL, 1986.

Curriculum Split

While reading for my thesis writing class, I thought about the curriculum that was developing. Currently, its a series of 9 exercises. This group is directed to the intermediate animation student, and in order to ensure that students were able to follow the final the final assignments, the beginning assignments were designed to review keyframing, posing and the Maya workflow for completing animation.

I thought about developing a second curriculum that was geared towards someone more advanced. This curriculum would not include the bouncing ball, walk or run cycle, but instead will begin with posing exercises or various gear change exercises.

Robert Cagne's 9 Events of Instruction

1. Gain attention (Stimuli activates receptors)
2. Inform learners of objectives (Creates level of expectation for learning)
3. Stimulate recall of prior learning (Retrieval and activation of short-term memory)
4. Present the content (Selective perception of content)
5. Provide "learning guidance" (Semantic encoding for storage long-term memory)
6. Elicit performance (Responds to questions to enhance encoding and verification)
7. Provide feedback (Reinforcement and assessment of correct performance)
8. Assess performance (Retrieval and reinforcement of content as final evaluation)
9. Enhance retention and transfer to the job (Retrieval and generalization of learned skill to new situation)

Thanks Drew for the info. I plan to implement these in my class this week.

Preplanning Concept

Emotion is integral to any character animation endeavor. Without it, there is no connection with the audience and the story suffers. When I started the thesis process, I noticed that there weren’t many resources available for animators in the subject of emotion. There were some books on animating facial features, which I found to be too technical. The closest resource I had found was Ed Hook’s text, “Acting for Animators”. It touched on the deeper aspects of conveying emotion in characters and its connection with the audience. Other than these texts, one would experience this type of instruction inside the industry, where new animators, upon entering a company, will usually undergo a training session where emotion and the proprietary software are covered. Many animators working in the industry have become university instructors where they introduce many of these concepts to students. A good example of this is a website called Animationmentor.com, a private online animation school, where animation students from all over the world take 6 – 10 week classes and learn from professional instructors from Pixar and Dreamworks. The site is popular and many students after taking the course, are recruited to work in the industry. The instruction is only available to a select few, and although it is impossible to get first hand instruction from professional animators, I believe that engaging in these exercises, is a good first step.

For my project, I thought it would benefit everyone by researching the most important aspects of animating character emotion, the exercises to help enhance this and to turn into a curriculum that could be introduced to intermediate animation students. The idea, is that if students were introduced to these concepts while in school, when they graduate, they would have experienced methods, learned concepts and would have examples to demonstrate their understanding and which they could use as part of their professional demo reel. The end result is that these students would be more prepared to take on complicated animation tasks such as animating emotion.

As part of my research, I sent out a questionnaire to professional animators in order to get a better understanding of how emotion is seen and achieved in the industry. The questionnaire was comprised of twenty questions covering education history, mentors, animating workflow techniques, animating emotion and tips and tricks for students. Eleven animators responded and this week, I reviewed all of them to see if I could find a new direction or gap in animating emotion that I have not seen. I noticed something profound. It seems simple, but I think if I focus on it, that it could help students achieve greater results. What I found was that there is a great deal of preliminary cognitive work that has to be done before any animation is started. Simply put, it requires observation and questioning, the conscious implementation of both could make the act of animating emotion simpler.

In almost all of the interviews, when asked to provide a resource that had helped them animate emotion, “observation” came up in over half of the questionnaires. This seemed obvious at first, but it’s the basic task for all artists, all artists must be aware of the world in the way he understands in order to interpret that into a visual expression. In this case, its an animated performance. This includes careful observation of people and objects from life. It also means shooting video reference, and scrubbing through animation clips or movies. Another resource they found essential was the ability to act in front of a camera or mirror. This takes initiative from the student and it places the student in a situation where he has to “feel” the emotion in a character.

Other questions that helped to animate emotion include: What is the state of mind of the character? And what happened to this character in the previous scene? What happens to the character in the following scene? How does this scene play into the overall scheme of the animation? Almost all of the professional animators before working on a scene would ask the above. Once these questions were answered, the animator would have information to add to the scene and could then move to the next step. In this, to solve for emotion the animator proceeds to creating a series of poses in the character that help to convey the story. These poses must be clear enough that even in silhouette form, they would still be readable. These can be drawn then translated on to the CG character, or it can be applied to the CG character directly.

These questions provide clarity into the process. In reading about this, I wondered if there was a way to integrate some sort of exercise where the student would have to consider the state of mind or any previous histories of the character. These can be made up, but I wonder if the implementation of this will make the final performance more engaging and rich. I see this as being an addition to my animation exercises, where every exercise has a section called “Preplanning”. This gives additional value for the user.

In these interviews, we could conclude that “Preplanning” was key to creating great emotion in characters. Professional animators do this naturally as part of their practice. It saves them time, the approval process is smoother and they get a better performance. I see this “Preplanning” as a feature in the presentation of my curriculum. In it, we ask students before animating, to take the time to think of a couple of things before animating. This includes knowing the state of mind of the character, the scene before and after, shooting reference and formalizing clear poses. From experience, I know that some students take the time to preplan, but most do not, and if they do, I have not come across any resources that mention the most effective ways of doing this. Doing so would create better results for the student.

Gesture Animation

I thought about this topic as a new direction to my thesis, and it focuses on gesture, and or gesture drawing for animation. Not sure how this would be interlaced throughout the project, but I do find a correlation as gesture relates significantly to emotion. Below is a description followed by an example of gesture animation I found on youtube.

My topic is gesture animation. Gesture drawing is a type of drawing done quickly in life drawing classes where the student must capture the figure's pose and proportion in a rhythmic fashion so as to appear fluid. These quick drawings, on a deeper level, can also capture the feeling or emotion of the pose being displayed. One of the concepts of gesture drawing, is that this preliminary gesture drawing is the foundation for what could be a final rendered drawing. At this stage, the drawing could be created in such a way that it exaggerates the pose at hand, which then exaggerates the feeling or emotion being expressed by the model. The concept to remember is: more exaggeration equals more emotion. An intermediate student having taken a number of life drawing classes would understand this, and I believe that relating this knowledge or experience to the student's task of animating CG characters would help the student at the initial posing and keyframing stage. Before animating a CG character, a animator must plan out the main poses of the animation through various keyframes in the animation. If the student understands that through exaggerated gestures emotion is achieved, then the student will have an easier time achieving emotion in computer generated characters.

Curriculum Class Description & Competencies

Below is a class description for the curriculum I'm developing. One thing to consider is if I have to create variations of the curriculum. I'm thinking about developing one for advanced students, one that does not contain the beginning exercises such as the bouncing ball or walk cycle.

------------

Animating Emotion in CG Characters

This course introduces intermediate animation students to ideas and practices in animating emotion in CG characters. The student will be animating prexisting character rigs and will begin by exploring the animation principles, will then move to pantomime exercises, and will conclude by having the student animate a character monologue/dialogue. Various pre-planning techniques will be reviewed and suggested before every exercise to expand learning.

Course Competencies:
Upon successful completion of the course, the student should be able to:

• Demonstrate keyframe animation in Maya.
• Become familiar with industry standard exercises to demonstrate emotion in characters.
• Become familiar with various pre-planning processes to enhance emotion in characters.
• Create animation samples that demonstrate emotion animation.

Broken Leg

Experienced a sledding accident this New Year's Eve and broke my leg. I've been in recovery the last four weeks and will post thoughts regarding my recovery on my other blog here:

http://randolfs.blogspot.com/


It's good to be back. Below is a snapshot of my leg the during the first week of the break