W10 Character Animation
V1 first shot for the animation
This part is the beginning of the animation. It follows the background music, with the objects appearing in sync with the tempo.
The feedback I received for this part:
- Adjust the timing of the books so they rise accordingly.
- Make the girl’s hand move forward toward her body when the alarm goes off.
- The tail should follow the head with a slight delay.
- The body should bend instead of falling like a stone.
V2
After adjusting character’s body movement, I feel it is better! Some feedback I recorded below:
- Move the board with curve track. It can bounce a bit when it touches the surface of the shelve.
- The character pops up in higher position so that it can bring a dynamic fall movement for the next move
- The table move a frame like shaking -> should remove it
- The eye should close before the alarm shakes
- The book can move in the air when they jump and fall back to the desk turning to not organized pile of book.
- The pen fly out of the frame needs more curve.
- The tail from the girl’s hair should pay attention to the timing of bending. -> make them really dynamic like a rope moving
V3
This is version 3 of this shot. I feel like it has improved as I refined the keyframes and animation timing. It’s really satisfying to see the character I designed move in such a dynamic way.
Timing is the most difficult part for me to master. I always feel like keyframes in the software belong to another world. Even if the keyframes or animation curves are perfect, the spacing in the animation can still have a big impact.
– Keyframing in Maya is especially hard for me because it’s so different from 2D motion graphics. In 3D, there’s the added dimension of depth. I’m used to focusing on the graphic side, like X and Y axes, but I also need to consider the Z-axis, which adds depth to the animation.
For example, when the character looks at the clock, it shouldn’t just rotate its head from left to right—it should also tilt its head down slightly for a more realistic motion.
Some feedback I got from GEO:
- The hands can lift up and move with a round curve when it move back to the final position
- The pen can move out quickly
- The spacing of the whiteboard on the back needs more arc movement. The timing can speed up a bit when it falls.
- The girl can bend her body later after she sit down
V4
I cannot believe I did so much character development for just this simple shot. I felt more confident when I compared the first version which the character looks like a robot.
Feedback from GEO for this verison:
- The pen can lower the height when it flies out of the camera.
- The whiteboard is still needing a bit more frames to give the curve motion.
V5 – Final
Personal feedback for this session:
- I feel truly thankful to GEO for helping me improve my character animation. I can tell he is very professional at making a character move naturally.
- Sometimes, he asks me to show him my MAYA file so he can see what’s happening. (It’s always amazing to see how he simplifies the complicated keyframes I’ve created.)
- Even though my character has a more cartoon-like style, at first, I thought it might be easier to animate. But crafting the keyframes still takes a lot of time.
- I’ve learned so much while keyframing every shot of my character animation. It’s incredible how many shots I’ve keyframed during this final month.
- I remember when I started this MA course, I learned the fundamental animation skills. When working on my final project, I applied all the principles we practiced, and they really helped with my animation.
- Even though I focused on motion graphics, which is different from movie or realistic animation, what I’ve learned from the character animation course has been very helpful for future projects. Now, I don’t feel scared if someone asks me to create a character performance from scratch.
- Although some parts of character animation require frame-by-frame keyframing, I feel like I now understand the whole process. I’ve learned how to improve curves, timing, and spacing, all thanks to this course.
So, of course, the first credit for this project goes to Geo! Thank you!