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Animation
week 20: Submission
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Category Archives: Project 1: “The Fisherman”
week 19: Project developments- compositing
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This week I have finalised the compositing stage.
For the first shot to add an introduction effect I have duplicated the trees for the background and positioned them in the foreground to give and impression of depth and animated them so that the more the camera pan closer to the character the trees would go out of the frame.
For the skeleton fish scene I had already added a fisheye effect in maya although I wanted to accentuate this effect even more so I have created a black solid layer with a mask set on subtract and feathered the edges to make the boarders even darker.
As I mentioned last week the depth map I have rendered was not working well since the gradient look very similar in the background and the foreground. So I have created a black solid layer and applied to it a gradient map to select the area affected by the blur. On top of it I have created an adjustment layer with a camera blur effect applied to it and the black solid layer selected as mask.
compositing with sounds
After I have composited all the different shots I have added sounds to them based on the animatic.
This week I have also made the intro in 3D since I have thought that the 2D version of it was not fitting with the style of the entire animation. I have used the fishing rod model from the animation and created a 3D text and parent it to the bait.
In order to make the animation more visually interesting I have added some 2D graphics:
some depression lines
comic text which I took inspiration from the deadpool video game showcasing the time and indicate the time spent waiting.
Moreover I have added some stars animation when he wakes up after he felt trying to catch the fish.
for some of the most crucial transitions in the animation I have created a comic slide transition to highlight the actions showcased in the scenes.
Week 18: Project developments
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Once I had rendered the animation I started the compositing stage both in Nuke and in After Effects. Both had this colour issues with the beauty layers of the render layers.
The problem was related to the beauty and alpha channel that I had previously rendered separately. In After effects I have positioned the different layers in the following way to make it work: the physical sky ate the bottom followed by the beauty from the master layer and the alpha channel from the master layer. the beauty mode should be set to alpha matte in order for the alpha to mask the black background and show the physical sky beneath.
the picture here showcases the nuke viewport in this case the merge node was acting as screen mode so the opacity of the layers above would appear with a lower opacity. However if I first merged the alpha channel and the beauty layer from the the master layer first and after create an additional merge node connecting those two with the physical sky, they would appear normal.
This week I also created the intro for the short animation. I first created the illustrations and text using illustrator so that they would be vector drawing and the quality world be high, and after I have imported the different assets in after effects to animate them accordingly to the animatic.
In order to add a depth to the scene especially for the trees in the back ground I have done a research looking for a way to render a depth map in maya. One way of doing it is to ad the Z render pass in the render settings. Once the image is rendered it can be imported in after effects although it would first appear as completely white. Once an exposure and levels effects are applied to it it would show a greyscale of the rendered image with the darker values being those in the foreground and the lighter values behind those in the far back.
This is the depth map from the first scene. Although, as you can see, the difference of foreground and background is not that evident so once I have linked it to the beauty layer effect “camera blur” in after effect it would all appear as blurred in the same way and the foreground and the background would not be differentiated.
water reflection
Unfortunately the water in some shots I had previously rendered appeared with a weird reflection especially when the waves faced directly the sun which came across as unnatural. At first I thought that the physical sky might have caused it although I compared the scenes where this did not happen and the values for the physical sky were the the same. The difference was is the water shade and specifically the colour and the IOR values so I have set all the scenes with this problem using the following settings.
color correction
Once all the rendering were ready I started to composite each shot. Other than the alpha channel the beauty of the master layers I also overlaid the AO layer to it which gave a nice shadow effect to the items in the scene. to the beauty I have applied a hue and saturation and exposure effect to the ao a gamma effect.
clouds
While compositing I felt that the sky was a bit “empty” and that adding some clouds would add some depth as well to it. So I looked for some clouds obj on turbosquid By VARRRG and I found these which are a bit stylised and fit with with the overall style of the animation.
Week 17: Projects Developments
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Physical sky and shadows
The problem I used to have about light and and the physical sky in Maya was because I did not add any rim light attributes to the aiToon shaders. A rim light is placed behind a subject that exposes the outline or rim of the subject with light. This lighting highlights the contours of a subject and creates a dramatic and mysterious effect.
From the picture above you can see that there are to lights to the texture itself since the physical sky light itself it is already not high in exposure (as it is during early morning).
Although if adjusting the rim lighting options for each aiToon shader I have created the lighter colours appeared. Moreover by adding to the contour lines of the shader an ambient occlusion mask the lines appeared more defined. I have realised this when I was adding the AOV’s to the scene. In the list there is one called “rim lighting (aiToon)”, so I researched into it and found the following video which I followed and solved the lighting problem that I had with the character:
Edit the playblast video before the rendering
This week I have completed the animations for each shot that I had initially set in the shot list. I thought I could edit all the different playblast videos together to have a rough idea for the whole animation and to see if I should change or add something before the rendering.
Rendering issues
The first problem I have encountered during the render process was the directory of the render layers and passes which was not accurate at first so it would stop maya from render.
Render path I have used to save the different render layers and paths.
<Scene>\<RenderLayer>\<RenderPass>\<RenderPass>_<Scene>
Missing render passes
I have also realised that I had to add the AO (ambient occlusion)- a shading and rendering technique used to calculate how exposed each point in a scene is to ambient lighting- and alpha render path- A mask channel (or alpha channel) defines where an image is opaque or transparent-.which at first I could not find in the list of AOV’s since they are custom passes and I had to manually input them
In order to make the AO pass work I have added the ambient occlusion shader and set gaussian as filter in the render settings
For the alpha channel I had to add an aiUsercolordata shader in the attribute editor and set the camera and transmission of the physical sky to 0 in order for it to work.
I have used these following videos as a reference for the process:
Since I had set the Physical sky camera and transmission to 0, I had to create a separate layer for the background rendering to trigger the Physical sky visibility: I have created an override for visible layers transmission and camera set to 1 because for ao and alpha they were set to 0 in orther to work.
I also included a Shadow matte layer for the boat and character. The shadow_matte is a specific shader, used typically on floor planes to ‘catch’ shadows from lighting within the scene. It is useful for integrating a rendered object onto a photographic background.
I followed this video to create it. I have created different collections within the render layer: one for the boat the character and the fisherman with the primary visibility turned off (the primary visibility attribute in the Render Stats allows an object to reflect and refract, but the object itself does not render); the second collection would be the one with the water where the shadows are cast I would also create a shader override with the aishadowmatte attached to it; the third and last collection would contain the light and the camera.
week 15: Project developments
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This week I have started animating the shots using the shot list I have created as a guide.
The first thing I did was to import every prop and the characters in the scene.
I after parented the fishing rod to the hand control the hat to the head control and the character to the boat to make it follow the boat moments when it floats in the water.
The animation process I have followed is the following:
Create the main key poses according to the action, and consequently the timing in which the action itself takes place. The stepped keys also help me plan the movements by establishing the main poses and their silhouette.
I after convert the stepped keys into linear keys to add some in-between. Linear tangents create an animation curve as a straight line before the key so that if I wanted to create some new keys I would create them in the exact middle of the tangents.
Once I was happy with the keys I would convert them into Auto. An Auto In Tangent compares the current keyframe value to the previous keyframe value, and flattens the curve segment if it travels above or below those keyframe values. A spline tangent rounds the animation curve smoothly before the key
As for the boat movement, I tried to match the waves automatically created by the boss editor to match the moments of the boat. However at first I probably saved to many close keys with different and abrupt movements, so the boat movements were not syncing with the water waves
Here I have adjusted the key movement
Shot 2
For the second shot I first block the main poses with stepped keys as well. Even though I haven’t set the camera yet I know which angle would it be and how close the camera will be to the character. Here the face expressions are essential to convey the character distress so the brows and the moustache rotation and position as well as major body moments were something I particularly considered.
Timing here was essential to get the character feeling, to I tried to get the right pauses and take time to show his emotion clearly.
Week 16: Project developments
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While experimenting with the character textures I thought I could apply to him a toon shader which would fit much better with the overall tone of the short film given the whole story a comic vibe. I have first followed this video:
I selected all the different parts of the model and created a toon shader for each of them and is the result:
Although, since I am using arnold to render this type of shader is not compatible to it and resulted to a matte texture with no edges at all:
I looked more into it and found out that there is an aitoonshader which is compatible with arnold:
I have added a base colour with a ramp setting for the shading of each texture
The edges also appeared more subtle which were less overwhelming compared to the first toon shader
I had to set the filters to contours in order for the edges to appear
when working on the original file I was using a skydome as a light. However in the animation scenes there is a physical sky which is simulating an early morning light, so there is not much light in the scene which made the shadows of the different aitoown shadows the only thing to be seen.
I tried to edit the physical sky setting which made some improvements:
I also applied the toon shader for the other props present in the animation:
Light developments
these are the physical sky setting that I have used in order to make the lighter parts of the aitoonshader appear as well:
Animation
In the meantime I also carried on the animation process and this following videos shows the progress I have made on a specific scene where I worked on the timing and spacing of the animation to make it more believable and natural as possible:
Week 14: Project Developments
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This week I have worked on a walk animation for the fisherman. Even though he won’t walk during the animation I thought that creating one would give me a better idea of how to frame and identify his personality which will have a big impact on the overall animation. In the walk I also added some props such as the fishing rod and the bucket where he supposedly puts the fishes (when he manages to catch any). I consider the fishing rod as the secondary character for this animation, as a sidekick even, aiding the protagonist as they work to achieve a goal (catch any fish), overcome an antagonist (an apparent big fish difficult to catch), or undergo necessary internal development. The mood I tried to achieve for him is grumpy but comic, funny and laughable at the same time since he is quite small and even his clothes are a bit over size for him. I would like fro the audience to emphasise with him and his struggles to a catch a fish.
I have playblast a the animation from side, front and 3/4 point of view which I will edit together for the final process video for the project.
Texturing
In the different rendered frames I have created in Maya so far I have noticed that the texture especially for the clothes of the character seems to be pixelated so I am planning onto edit the texture in substance painter to get a better result as well as increasing the sampling in the camera settings.
Animation
For the overall animation process I am noticing that the timing is one of the biggest issues I am encounting throughout the process: since animation is a time-based medium, developing a good sense of timing is very important to creating good animation. Timing is what gives meaning to the motion. The speed at which things happen affect the perception of the scene and give it mood.
Timing has a huge role to play in how your animation will look like. If your timing is really fast or slow, too linear or too long, the overall animation will end up looking unrealistic. Timing is dependent on speed and you can interpret someone’s current state with it. Which is why in the future for the animation I will try to record myself and use it as a reference.
Week 13: Project Developments
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Shotlist
This week I have created a shortlist for my animation. I have carried out a research too see which elements I should include.
What is a shot list
A shot list is a document that maps out exactly what will occur and what will be used in that particular shot, or scene, of the film. It serves as a detailed checklist that gives the video a sense of direction
How to make a shot list
organizing your shots based on the shot location. Group similar shots makes it easier to shoot because you are able to film everything you need at one given time. It’s important to note that this may not necessarily be in order of shot number.
Type of shots
Decide what kind of shot you’ll be filming. In addition to the type of shot, the camera angles and camera moves should be specified.
It usually includes:
Shot number: the reference number assigned to each individual shot.
Shot description: a short description of the action and/or dialogue.
Shot size: how big or small the subject is in the frame.
Shot type: the camera angle, or how the camera frames the subject.
Movement: how the camera does (or doesn’t) move within the shot. For example: Static, Pan, Tilt, Dolly, Zoom, etc.
Sound: how the sound and/or dialogue are captured.
I have after started creating my shot list in excel including all these elements and applied them to my short animation and I also included a gifs of the different shots as well. I order to keep everything organised I have also created a drop down list where I would be able to edit if I haven’t started or I am working on or even completed a shot.
This is the link to the shot list I have created:
Fishing rod controls
This week I have also added few controls to the fishing rod to facilitate the animation
Animatic Sound
This week I also added some sounds to the animation I have created last week. I have used some sound I have found on adobe stock which I think fit perfectly to what I had in mind for the animation sound design: I have downloaded song which included sounds that worked as a sound effect conveying emotions through instruments. I have imported them in after effects along with the animatic and synced the images to the sounds making use of the audio levels keys to make sounds fade in and out.
Animation Test
In order to get used to all the controls and to get a better understanding of how I am going to animate the characters and all the props I carried out an animation testing of the fisherman throwing the bait out in the water.
These two videos are to excerpts I have found on youtube which I have used as reference for the arm/hand/body movement that fishermen do when throwing a bait: At fist I thought they throw the fishing rod with both hands backwards and after forward into the water with an elaborate movement, however this moments is very subtle as it can be seen in the videos, so I have tried to recreate it in the animation.
I have fist imported all the assets in the scene and I have edited the boat as a collider in the boss editor so that the water would react to it
I first worked on stepped keys to block the animation poses
In order to make the props moving along with the character without positioning them every time I have parented them to the character controls
I have also created a camera and frame the scene using the a grid to position everything.
For the boat floating movements I have created different animation layers each corresponding to a different movement.
This is the playblast video of all the poses. I have saved the keys following the hierarchy of the controls chain, starting from the root control all the way to the arms. Moreover in each key I have saved I have selected each control and saved them each time I created a new pose.
Afterwards I have turned the stepped keys into splines and correct some curves
Week 12: Project Development
Since we are doing something different for the second project, I will now pause the cat project for now and focusing only on the Fisherman project since is the one I have made a presentation of. However the cat assets modelling , rigging and texturing was a good exercise that helped me developed my skills.
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Restart the rigging:
Since I have started rigging the fisherman character last term before this term workshops on rigging, I thought I could restart rigging the character using what I have learned form class. If I can’t make it on time I will use my old rig for the final animation.
Fishing rod
The model I had previously modelled, textured and rigged of the fishing rod had some issues in the geometry itself: it was not accused, it was not representing faithfully a real fishing rod and also the whole rigging system even thought it was functional for the animation it had some issues in the skiing, also due to the model. Since that this prop is going to be one of the focus of the animation itself I have decided to look for a more elaborated model to download and after rig myself.
In the end I have found this model on cgtroader from emelyarules:
I after created a joint chain that I binded to the geometry, as well as importing the handle I had created for the old fishing rod since the one on the model was combined on the geometry.
For the bending I have set driven keys within a range of -10 and 10 to make the fishing rod bend correspondingly upward and downward.
Animatic
Using the storyboards as a guide I have created an animatic to use as a reference for the animation.
Single frame render on an action
Reference videos and pictures for fishing
This videos and image might be helpful for me in the animation stage since there are few basic actions that I could use a reference.
These are some standard poses which outline clearly the silhouette of the character.
Week 9: Project developments
This week I have tried to assign a sit position that I will need in a scene so that I could directly import this cat version when I will be needing it.
For the fisherman project I have experimented with the texture of water which would be an essential part in the animation.
One way to add a water-like texture to a Polygon, in this case a plane, is to assign a standard surface first and into the bump map value a noise shade increase the frequency to 22 to simulate the waves, for the animation I have used the input =frame/50 to add a subtle moment over time in the viewport.
I have also experimented with the ocean shader applied on the Polygon directly however in the render view it would appear pink, as if it does not recognise the shade.
I carried a quick research on how to solve the problem and using intend of arnold, maya software
I have also rigged the fish for the fisherman in order to make the fins of the fish flip independently from the rest of the body and I also added some controls that will be useful in the animation stage and a scale option to the main asset control so that when I will import it into the scene I will be able to adjust its size.
As I did for each model which as a mesh, controls and rigs I have organised them separately in the outliner.
Since e then some of the fins will be moving independently I have added some skin weights to the involved areas.
Other two props that be be appearing in a scene are the basket and the fish skeleton, so I have modeled the props in maya.
texture for the fisherman and cat
Since I want to add a lever of “realness to my models, I have researched some ways to add some clothes texture:
To do this adding a bump map value to standard surfaces I had previously created. in the bump map assign a file of a cotton pattern (for the fisherman clothes) and multiply the uv sample to 6 and the bump value to 0.150.
I have assigned a automatic uv map to the mesh to make sure that the texture would appear homogeneous on the model.
how the shirt and the suit looks in the viewport
rendered picture
This week I also experimented with the hair render texture for the fisherman project.
The first method I have used is to paint brush the brows Polygon
Unfortunately I could not make them show in the render view after I converted the paint brushes into curves, so I tried a new method
I have applied some xgen hair “guides” and adjusted their curve and position, however I was not able to modify the length the width and the density of the hair.
Since I was not able to add xgen to the cat to add fur to it, I have thought I could apply the same method I had used for the Fisherman clothes adding a bump map value to the texture.
In this case I have used a short fur texture, this is the rendered picture
In the first phase as you can see the bump value was too big and the subdivisions were not enough.
This is the latest version
In the concepts for the character I had added the pupil shape that I could use for the cat’s eyes to convey different emotions, so I have created a second set of eyes with the pupils being very narrow.
to switch between the two I have created the set driven keys and added an attribute to the eye controls that triggers the visibility of them: when it is on one the eyes with the narrow pupils are visible and when is on zero the “normal” eyes are visible.
Animated Shorts without Dialogues
For my project I won’t use dialogues so the sounds will have huge impact on the overall experience of the animation communicating the story and helping the visual delivering the overall message.
This video was very inspirational and informs about the sound design process and it introduces the world of sound that has to be created for a film where everything has to be coherent. It talks mostly about Wall-e and in general Ben Burtt works, he is considered the father of modern screen sound.
Disney early approach to sound was to use musical sound for sound effect, which is something I will like to implement for my personal project since I think it would fit well with the theme too.
This compilation of Tom and Jerry cartoons are a great example of the direction that I want to take for the sound design: