Blue Guy "Generi Rig" : by Andrew Silke

If you'd like to give animating emotion a shot, there are numerous free character rigs on the Highend 3D site. A very nice rig is the one by Andrew Silke and it features a pretty cool control system that is both visual and intuititve. Thanks guys for posting this online.

You can check the site by clicking the link below.

http://www.andrewsilke.com/generi_rig/generi_rig.html

Facial Features and Expression : by David Kalwick

This week I conducted research on techniques and methods for a properly rigged face. This is important as it enables the animator to achieve emotion. The focus of my thesis however (and its something I still debate about), is not technical. Studying the nuances of a rig in order to manipulate the mesh could be an entire thesis on its own, we really don't have much time to cover the major platforms and therefore will only focus on the nontechnical, but practical aspects of generating emotion in characters, that can be used across all platforms including 2D animation.

i came across David Kalwick's book, "Animating Facial Features and Expressions". I thought it would be a nice place to start. I wanted to see how an expert who models and animates in CG and also, how he presents and executes the process for animating emotion. It is written for the intermediate to advanced level student, the same group that my thesis is targeted towards. The information is helpful and after reading it, I thought about perhaps putting together a class where this book would be the central text. I originally picked up the book in order to conduct research on properly rigged face and found other things that were quite helpful.

The book is divided logically, into three parts.

Part I:
Describes facial anatomy, muscles, the skull and most importantly, general proportions. Now I teach life drawing on a regular basis at the school and some of the tips he shares in order to remember facial proportion is quite clever. I also learned new terminology about the skull that I had not learned. These were:

• Nasion : The area between the eyes, above the nasal bone.
• Supraorbital Margin : I usually called these the orbitals, but now I have a name for the top brow ridge.
• Infraorbital Margin : The bottom ridge of the eye socket.
• Mental Protuberance : The part of the chin that sticks forward.

(I'm writing these down because we will be identify these in lifedrawing class on Monday.)

He also discussed the use of forensics' use of 3D to solve crimes, and talked about he difference between the male and female skull. The female skull is narrower, rounder at the top, its shorter, the chin and mandible is rounded, the supraorbital margin is not as large, and the cheek bones are not as large as a male's (zygomatic process).

The section continues with the nuances of the each facial feature, and describes how the muscles are manipulated. In conclusion, its important to know the muscles of the face so that an animator will know what point in the mesh to manipulate in order to achieve a realistic emotion.

This section has potential to be extremely technical, but its written in way that is easy to scan and understand, again its well written for his target audience.

Part II :
Talks about emotion and expression. More specifically, he talks about features such as the mouth (the foundation of the expression), the eyes and brows (used as modifiers) are used to create emotion. This section is filled with snapshots and illustrations that help to convey his idea.

Part III:
Is the the most technical part of the book. Here he discusses lip syncing, phonemes, recording dialogue, morphing, blendshapes (in both 3D Studio and Maya - Oh yeah, he's brave here, but he did it), animating spines, bones, correct pivot points, lattices, clusters, lots of stuff.

The best part about this section is that it includes appendices for 36 common emotions. These illustrations are charted out so they are easy to scan, and included with this is a basic shape breakdown and feature position suggestion in order to achieve that particular emotion, and covers a wide range from realistic to cartoon styles. I can see this being a really nice comprehensive guide on animating facial anatomy.

The book comes with also comes with a CD ROM that includes templates, movies about facial anatomy and animating the face.

Now, should I include information like this in my thesis? He's basically broken down the process from the structural aspects of emotion (skeletal and muscles) and demonstrates how these are formed and animated in CG. He's also created it so that it is a form of reference. Mine is similar but focuses more on acting methods.

At this point, including technical information about a properly rigged face, may be too much. I'll definitely point to this book as a main reference for setting up a facial rig in Maya and or Studio, or perhaps we just highlight the most common techniques in animating expression, like for example, sticking to diagrams of common expressions that animators can use as an online guide.

In conclusion, I was impressed with how the book was laid out, organized and how it presented the entire process of animating the face from anatomy to CG in a simple to understand reference.

Kalwick, David. "Animating Facial Features & Expressions". Boston, Massachusetts. Charles River Media. 2006

Jason Ryan Flip Book LInk

In this demo, you'll see Jason Ryan, animation director for Disney, use a program called Flipbook to create a simple 2D animation. This is much faster and he'll use it for approval. In this video, he demonstrates how he takes the footage generated in Flipbook and Maps it as an image sequence in Maya. Here, he uses the 2D Flipbook footage as reference for a more refined model.

I thought I'd post it as it shows the importance of drawing and 2D animation fundamentals during the creation of a CG animated sequence. Click the link below to see the demo.

Fire it up!

http://www.flipbookpro.com/movies/mayabowlingdemoSTRMED.mov

Assignment 4 : Walk Cycle

In this next assignment, we will be animating a simple character walk cycle.
Don't get too crazy, just animate the walk for now. Frame Count 24. The
notes below will guide you.

• 12 frames per step. We will have 12
• frames per
• step. Each of the
• poses below will be using three frames. 1
• keyframe and 2
• keyframes
• generated by the computer.

Below are the three main poses to help you animate a walk cycle.

• Contact pose - The point at which the feet touch the ground. Front toe up, back heel up.
  
• Weight Pose - The point at which the leg is holding the entire body's weight after the step.
  
• Pass Pose - Point at which the leg passes the other leg.
  
• Take Off - Point after Weight Pose, where the leg takes off from contact pose.
  

Contact Pose

• Heel to toe. 1 or two frames.
• Leg is straight

Take Off

• Back leg is straight.
• Highest Point of the pose.

Weight Pose

• Lowest point of the pose.

Additional Notes:

• Use 3 frames for each pose to create the 12 frame step.
• Watch Arcs for smoothness.
• Hand makes a figure 8 from top view.
• Head stays in place, but bobs.
• Foot makes and arc (reverse nike).

FORMAT:
Render out a front, side and perspective
views.

PROCESS:

Start with contact pose
Establish center of weight.
Move body
forward
Rotate Hip
Move weight (shift weight of figure) over support leg.
Rotate Shoulder
Position arms and hands.
Keyframe this pose
Set your frames to step. (RC timeline, tangent > step
Set your frame count to every third frame.

Repeat for the three remaining poses each is three frames apart.

For smoothness in Z. In Graph Editor, Select the middle points in Z
and delete for smoothness in the Z.

Locking Down legs.

Breaking
Joints to exaggerate. Check out Richard Williams Book on
breaking joints.

Drink Box Animation Notes:

I'm thinking about posting my animation on youtube so that I can post the examples on this blog. Animating the drink box was tough, primarily because my ideas seemed too complex. I realized that after realizing that it takes about 3 hours to properly animate the drink box fearfully jumping around. I found the assignment easier to tackle once I started simplifying.

Common mistakes students had with this assignment:

:: Keeping actions of the character intentional.
:: Being aware of the character's senses. He may see or hear something that might lead to an action.
:: Set up emotion from the very beginning of the scene.
:: Exaggerate the contrast of the emotions so that the ideas are clear.
:: Have strong posing to avoid "floaty" or "swimmy" movement.
:: Reverse pose C curves in animation add to contrast.
:: Remember contrast in timing. Add pauses to break up the timing of the animation, this gives the illusion the character is thinking, it also gives us the viewer a chance to understand what's happening.
:: Drag = approximately 6 frames.

Notes for my drink box animation.
:: People understood the march. This was tough. I made it so that it was clear that the movement was intentional and controlled as a soldier would move.
:: Have the box look slow to notice what's happening.
:: Hop to have body follow.
:: Have him look around.
:: Pepper the box with bullets and impact.

Pascual Animation Process

Below is a link to Ruel's animation process. He covers planning, stepping and cleanup in Maya.

Click here to view the tutorial.

Assignment3 : Drink Box Animation

Assignment 3 : Drink Box from randolfd and Vimeo.

Ball bounce 2

Below are notes, fixes and difficulties experienced by students from the previous assignments.

Things to watch out for regarding the two ball bounce.

5 frames for first drop of heavy ball.
Keeping overlap to compensate.
Remember forward momentum to represent forward motion.
Rotate ball after coming out of first squash.
Watch the X move more than the rotation (sliding). **
Flatten tangents in order to stay on surface.
Watch for steep arcs, keep arcs rounded.
Spacing of stretch before 1st squash, and stretch after 2nd squash frame be different. The second one should be greater.
Squashing before it hits the ground – squash starts too soon.


DRINK BOX ANIMATION

Animate box, show one emotion. In order to switch to another emotion, there must be conflict, then switch to second emotion. Watch gesture and timing. Remember bouncing ball timing. Anticipation before the move forward. Keep emotion in objects. Make believe that they are thinking.

Happy
Angry
Sad
Surprised
Excited
Anxious
Inquisitive
Embarrassed
Drunk
Confused
Abused
Tired
Loved
Depressed
Irritated
Constipated
Inspired
Annoyed
Disturbed

Conflict: Makes the scene more interesting and engages the viewer. It is marked by a struggle or confrontation. This usually follows a story arch. Conflict. There are three types of conflict. Conflict with Self, Others and Situation or environment. Suggest Conflict to make it more interesting, in this assignment. It may be interesting to have the conflict offscreen. After the conflict, be sure the character fails or succeeds. The box experiences conflict and then will either fail or succeed.


Timing of the exit of the character is different than entrance

As an exercise, see if you can sketch out a gesture pose for each brick emotion mentioned above.

IDEAS:
Standup Comedy Act – Cube appears. Tells a joke and bombs. OR succeeds. Spotlight
Guarding the doorway. Sees and intruder and goes to warn.
Drunk > cube falls >

DRINK BOX MODEL
Use locator to bring up channel box.

Be subtle

Be sure box has animation either hop or walk in order to travel across the scene.

Success of animation depends on:
Timing
Spacing
Squash and Stretch
Story
Posing
Gesture
Emotion

Success and clarity comes from the contrast of two emotions.

Contrast your timing and rhythm throughout the piece in order to prevent monotony.


ASSIGNMENT PARAMETERS:

6 second max.
720 x 486
Set up a camera and don’t move the camera.
Plot arcs.
Sketch it out.
Plan.

Staggering, Drag and Overlap requires 12 frames to show overlapping action and the die-out.

Stepping: Select your keys > RC > tangents > step

Interview Questions

Below are possible questions posed to professionally working animators to gain insight into their methodologies and work methods in animating emotion.

Background:

• Where did you study animation?
• What are your top 3 favorite animation DVD's? And what reasons do you have to make them the top of your list?
  
• Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny? If neither, who?
• What is your primary animation platform?
• What toys do you have around your work area?

Influence:

• How long have you been animating and where do you currently work now?
• Do you have a favorite animator that you continually draw inspiration from?
• In learning animation, did you have a favorite animation exercise? Please describe.

Industry Questions:

• Do you specialize in a particular type of animation (i.e. character, realistic, inanimate objects, animals)?
• How much footage do you choose to work on at any one time, and how long do you give yourself to work on this footage?
• Before you jump on to the computer to animate, and realizing that you have approved storyboards, what type of personal planning do you do to prepare before animating?
• Animation is a complex process, what types of questions do you ask yourself in order to clarify what you are about to animate?
• Describe your animation process?
• Is there a feature inherent in the software that you are using that you just love and that you cannot live without? What does it do?
• In what ways do you see the animation industry changing?
• What is the most difficult part of animation?
• What do you love most about what you do?
  

Animating Emotion:

• How important is emotion to your animations?
• Describe the process you would take to get the best results?
• Have you ever animated something, only to find that people felt something else other than what you had originally intended?

Advice to Students:

• What is the biggest downfall students make when it comes to presenting their portfolio/demo reel?
• What type of advice would you give students currently entering the animation industry?
• The animation process is long and tedious, and its not unusual for the mind to wander. What do you do stay awake, sharp and focused on your work?

The Graph Editor

Adjusting handles in the graph editor:

By default, the handles in the graph editor are not weighted. Make them weighted so you can extend them.

• Curves > Weighted Tangents.

From here, you can choose the tools circled below to break, combine or manipulate tangents.

• MMB to translate.
• Shift to contstrain.

Assignment 1 :: Bouncing Ball

Assignment 1: Ball Bounce from randolfd and Vimeo.

In this assignment, I skipped the first task of animating a bouncing ball in 24 frames and it ended up shooting me in the foot. I tried to do a 450 frame animation of the ball, bouncing in and being excited caused him to jot in and out of the frame 3 times. Afterwards, he was supposed to slowly come in and deflate to represent an exhaustive state. The task was too much. I had not felt warmed up. I'm sure I could tweak the animation I completed, but it might be best to just start again. Doing the single ball bounce in 24 frames is a nice ease into the remaining assignments. I just completed it and I feel much better now. I will return to this assignment once I have a better idea/concept.

Below are some common mistakes and fixes made by other students in the class:

1. Stretch of ball on descent happens too early.
2. Incorrect contact with the ground plane.
3. Add an extra frame of squash, keep it here at least two and at the most three.
4. Punch or Pop occurs after squash. The distance between the stretch and the last frame of the squash should be greater than the distance between the first squash and stretch frames.
5. Tops stop too abruptly. Flatten out tangents.
6. More keyframes at the top of the motion than at the bottom.
7. Be mindful of the frame count and height. If the height is shallow and there are a lot of frames, the animation will play slow.
8. Practice flat and linear keys.
9. Keep things simple. Plan your keys (70%). Animation = 30%.
10. Cameron Myazake bouncing ball animation.
11. Check out Richard William's tips on frame count.
12. Soft landings. Create linear tangents to create impact.

List of Emotions

Below is a list of common emotions that when animated, will give you a good variety of assignments. To add additional variety, try animating them in different intensity levels from subtle (realistic) to exaggerated (cartoony).

The following emotions are:

• Shyness
• Disgusted
• Fear
• Surprised
• Joy
• Happy
• Anger
• Inquisitiveness
• Sadness

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

Maya 8.5 Service Pack

Had problems firing up Maya 8.5 on my mac. Looks like there is a service pac and an unistaller patch that we have to use to get it to work. Thanks Ron.

I'll give it a try.

The link to both the patch and service pack can be found here:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=9627807&linkID=9242259

Starting Back Again

This week was the first week of teaching at Ai after a nice vacation to Huntington Beach and San Diego. This quarter, I teach three Beginning Maya classes and I'm also sitting in on Ruel's 3D Character Animation class.

The character class will be the focal point from which to create my acting curriculum. I will be engaging in lots of the exercises I have planned for in my thesis. I'm looking forward to improving.