Week 13: Manual Rigging – Skinning Part 2 / Controls & Interfaces Part 1

Posted on 9th May 2022 by Marianna Caprio

Corrective Systems

Corrective blend shapes are added to maintain volume and create distinctive shapes within a deformation. However, the goal is to paint the weights as best as possible first, not to rely on the shape to ‘fix’ any skinning issues. Corrective shapes adjust geometry using the (blend) shapes deformer system.

Fall-off joints: Positioned throughout the rig to help extend and blend the twist of geometry. For example, a forearm fall-off joint to help when the wrist twists side to side

On-site shapes: For example, using the Pose Space Deformer system in Maya instead of duplicating the mesh to create a blend shape

Off-site shapes: Duplicating the mesh and creating corrective blend shapes or for additional rigging effects

Influence joints: A series of joints positioned and animated (SDK) to work with the movement of the rig – Maintaining volumes or for adding additional effects.

Influence objects: These can be a simple as a single plane of geometryor full muscle systems

A blend shape is a duplicate of the model which has been edited, and when you target it in and assign it a slider, when the slider is on 1 the original becomes the target.

Behind the scenes the blend shape node simply stores the change sin coordinates of each vertex. After a blend shape is made, the duplicate model (target) can be exported of deleted from the scene

All targets under one blend shape node work together (morph / blend). Two blend shape nodes plugged into one model. This will conflict with each other

For skinned models (characters) the blend shape node needs to be below the skin cluster node so the blend shapes morph onto of the movement (deformation) caused by the rig

The change in geometry is triggered by the rotation of the joint using a blend shape

The shape that is used to correct model is the result of a subtracted shape (positive / negative shapes) to accommodate the skinned mesh.

Corrective shape:
The model is posed and then duplicated twice. First to capture the problem (negative) and second to fix the problem (positive. Both are then connected as a blend shape to the original skinnedmess. Both duplicate shapes are then connected to the original using a ‘parallel blend shape’. The negative is set to –1, the positive to +1, and the rig is reset. A new duplicate is created of the original model and the parallel blend shape deleted. This is the corrective shape that will be used.

Fall-off joints example:

I have created a correct the wrist movements. One option is to insert a joint. After I have inserted a joint in between the elbow and the wrist joint, in order to mirror the joint on the other arm, I have created a locator of which the origin corresponded to the joint origin and mirrored to the there arm to use as a guide to insert the joint.

Add influence to the skinning

create the IK handle but with limiting the movement of the joint so it can rotate on one axis

add expression to make the joint follow the rotation of the inserted one

insert the joints on the legs as well (by duplicating the knee joint and deleting the ankle duplicate and parented it to the knee joint) and add the expression on rotate y to make the ankle and the inserted joints rotate along

skin weight the arm new joints replace the influence of the elbow with the forearm joint with 1 percent influence

after in order to maintain the mesh volume when the forearm joints rotate The influence on the mesh between the elbow and the forearm needed to be shared (by selecting the vertices from the edge loop of the forearm area and either replace the influence with the elbow to add it to the forearm, or using the hammer tool)

same skinning process for the knee and the shin joints on the leg

An alternative to the blend shapes are joints that are parented to the “problematic joints that are skinned to the mesh to correct the shape of them when doing a specific movements.

Corrective shapes example:

first example:

Blendshapes are a process that can be used to correct the Character mesh shape in a specific pose. one the character pose is created the mesh should be duplicated twice: one to use as a positive and one as a negative.

By editing the positive mesh duplicate and selecting the three meshes now a parallel blend shape can be created. in the attributes id the positive is set to 1 and the negative to -1 now the pose would be correct.

Once the character is pose back in the default pose, however, the mesh would be changed and in order to edit it the mesh has to be duplicated one more time (this duplicate would be used as blend shape) and with the set driven key editor with the character set as the driver and the bleanshape as the driven now the pose is finally correct.

Second example:

The second process involves the pose editor. First select a joint and after add poses for each movement with the edit button turned on. for each individual joint every rotation where the problems in the mesh appear should be added.

Once each joint has been added on one side the pose can be mirrored on the other side using the pose editor mirror options set to either object or topology.

Week 13: character rigging and animation workshop part 3

Posted on 8th May 2022 by Marianna Caprio

This week I have worked on the punisher animation in the phase between stepped keys and splines and clean up.

In the timeline I have fist edited the Playback speed to real time.

From last week assignment on stepped keys I have actually misused some of the controls I haven’t used the COG correctly as well as the elbow rotation was on all of the axes instead it should have been only on z. So I have corrected these mistakes on each pose first and added some more poses in between. This is the playblast:

splines/auto

I converted the keys in splines on the timeline and this is the initial result:

I after started to work on odd keys adding animation poses, if needed, keying each control each time. The turns that the character does were the most difficult to work on since that I had to establish where the body weight should have been according to the movement. I also paid particular attention to convey some anticipation and overshoot in the movements to make the animation more dynamic and interesting.

I have noticed that from the camera view even if the posed and moments appeared to be corrected in the viewport I have noticed that the feet position and animation in the transitions were not accurate: in some cases the rotation was incorrect and they also appeared to slide in some points. In the meantime I also had a look in the graph editor to check the curves the that the controls in the different moments and axes made and applied some changes when needed. So I have corrected these mistakes as well as adjusting the weight of the body and this is the result:

Week 12: Rigging, Skinning

Posted on 2nd May 2022 by Marianna Caprio

Binding and weighting geo

What is skinning?

Skinning is the process of connecting geometry to the joints and then weighting the fall off. In terms of Maya we are connecting joints to vertices using a skin cluster node. The skin cluster node is part of the deformer family.

Binding : (Max) influences

When you bind any vertex will inherit a shared connection (weighting) to any number of joints (to a maximum set in the options).

Initial binding options: Post weights vs interactive weights

Interactive Weights
In post weights, the shared relationship between a vertex & any number of joints adds up to 1 (100%). Cannot drop under a value of 1 in total

Post Weights
In interactive weights, each joint can influence any vertex up to a value of 1 (100% each). The total value cannot drop under 1

After you edit the wights using painting weights which is a process of changing those relationships

The golden rules / common pitfalls

In skinning you never subtract you always add.

Edit weights manually, and then brush paint’ if necessary.

Don’t use smooth without ‘locking weights’.

In the bind skin option box the “bind to option” with joint hierarchy maya is going to bind all the joints in chain to the geometry

– Creating a broken bind

Clean-up

I fist loaded all the weight to the chest and after I am going to remove it gradually to the right joint by floating the weight to the vertices of the corresponding joint. (by selecting the vertices in loops and the designated joint and flooding) chest-shoulder-elbow-wrist-fingers-clavical-lombars-pelvis

Grow selection to select vertices for the vertices

– Mirroring weights

after I passed on the leg following the same process (pelvis-hip-knee-ankle) and mirroring the weight on the other leg

for the feet I first edited the weight for one foot and after to mirror it to the other one I have select them both and mirrored the weight

Add influence to add a joint

Blending weights using component selections

– Pose space (corrective blend shape) deformers for corrections: adding a pose interpolator by going to a frame where the character’s skin is deforming incorrectly, or move the character into a pose where you want to add a corrective shape.

So I have created a pose and a modelling a shape to blend weights where the character geo would bend to make those poses more natural.

For the fingers in order for them to fold correctly I have added weight first to the joint that drove the movement, the joint that was the parent to the one where the geometry was bending unnaturally.

So I have selected the loop and converted to vertices and added the weight so that the influence of the geometry is shared between the two joints and the geometry folds more naturally

I have applied the same process to the consequent joint to share the influence on the geometry.

Average the weights based upon its neighbours

I after manually smoothed the paint weight for the thumb adding some influence to hold back the area where the thumb bend to maintain the volume

For the wrist I have applied the same process for the wrist selecting the vertices from an edge loop and add the influence to either the wrist joint or the elbow to maintain the volume when it’s bent.

Same for the elbow I have distributed the weight between the elbow and the shoulder by selecting the vertices of the mesh involved in the bend

For the shoulder the influences this time had to be distributed between three joints: the shoulder, the clavicle and the chest according to the the different parts of the shoulder itself.

The part on the top had to be blended for the shoulder and some weights added on the clavicle, the part corresponding to the armpit had to be shared between the clavicle and the chest always working according the vertices which in this case were only those affecting the specific are not the whole edge loop.

The most tedious part to skin weight is the spine since that the weight had to be distributed in a way that when the spine ben on a side the volume is maintained but if the influence on the pelvis was excessive the movement of the latter could have been compromised.

I have mirrored the skin weights from one arm to the other and from one leg to the other since I have been working on one side only.

Week 12: Rigging and Animation workshop part 2

Posted on 2nd May 2022 by Marianna Caprio

12 principles of animation

All of of these principles can be applied to all medias in animation. With the squash and stretch animations can show how fluid the object is; anticipation is something which which the audience can anticipate the action, where is going; staging in 3D animation is posing, how an action is clean on screen; straight ahead and pose to pose refers to the way an animator works by posing an object and creating some in betweens and straight ahead animation as you go; follow through and overlap showing the weight and characteristics of an object, how it works; ease-in and out refers to timing and spacing of keys of an animation in a 3D environment; arc refers to the action of an object since every actions follows an arc; secondary action are objects that are affecter by other motions. Even if these principles are applied predominantly in 2D, also 3D animation can be seen in these terms because the finished material is going to be a sequence of 2D images.

Solid posing (appeal)

what makes a good pose:

is it clear, readable
demonstrate a sense of weights and physicality
visually dynamic (line of action, asymmetry, silhouette, negative space and contrast)
conveys character

line of action

run cycle:

Using the reference pictures for the poses to use in a run cycles first key these on the timeline.

hip rotation dynamic: shoulder has counter weight the position of the hips.

tracking the arc of actions using a motion trail:

The part on the ground of the run cycle should be linear in the graph editor for the feet to move forwards.

When creating breakdowns animators should be thinking of: arcs (anticipation, overshoot) and spacing (lead of one part of the body, follow through/drag of the action).

Pose to Pose exercise with the Punisher character

Starting by editing the animation settings to create stepped keyframes

I have created the main poses on 8

I after added some breakdowns

This exercise gave an awareness on posing and the importance that it has when it comes to animate a character: the silhouette of the character and the readability of the action as well as the line of action are all elements that work together to create a great and dynamic animation.

Final playblast video

Character rigging and animation workshop – Week 1 –

Posted on 26th April 2022 by Marianna Caprio

skeleton picture reference to create a rig for a character:

Using advanced skeleton I have built a skeleton

position the joints according to the model following the topology of the model itself and also anatomy of the human skeleton

Once the joints were in place I have built the skeleton structure for the rig using advanced skeleton settings

I after binded the skin of the geometry to the joints using the following settings:

In order to help the skinning process, I have imported some animations to apply on the rig to better maintain the volumes when doing specific actions

There are several methods to skin a human model, I have started from the fingers all the way down the feet. I will only work on the right side on the model since after I will mirror the paint weight on the other side of the model.

I have used the animations imported to adjust the skin weight and maintain the volume of the model when bending in determined ways. The main tools for skin weight are the value and the opacity of the brush used for painting where the white areas are those affected by the selected joint.

The areas that needed to be skin weighted the most were the shoulders even though since that the character is positioned in a v pose rather than a t pose so the bind skin for them would be more accurate but still needs to be edited. Also the back needed to be more graded out since the way it bent was unnatural at first.

Once the skin weight on one side were corrected I mirrored them on the other side.

In the end I have deleted the keyframes for the imported animation and I have created my own poses using some references that I have found based on the punisher character. The way I have created the pose is the following: always used hierarchies of controls (e.g. starting from the root control moving all the way up to the fingers and from the root control all the way down to the feet). I also took in consideration the balance on the body when positioned in a certain position and the line of action.

Notes on additional reading:

Jaw Joint Placement & Motion (https://imgur.com/bYO0I3s):

All ‘virtual’ joints that we place are based on virtual anatomical surface landmarks.

For the jaw of a human(oid) this pivot is under the earlobe when viewed from the side. The jaw/mandible slides forward as the mouth opens and the mandible/jaw slide forward as the mouth opens.

This instead is a table to use a s reference when modelling eyes and teeth of a character

Rigging Dojo Anatomy for 3D Artists (https://vimeo.com/16075544):

basic approach to anatomy for rigging-

the human body can fit the geometry of a square and a circle (Leonardo Da Vinci reference picture): each rigger/modeller has to have a basic knowledge of anatomy so that he or she can apply this knowledge to the specific needs of their characters.

the human body can fit the geometry of a square and a circle (Leonardo Da Vinci reference picture): each rigger/modeller has to have a basic knowledge of anatomy so that he or she can apply this knowledge to the specific needs of their characters.

The primal pivot of the head is at the bottom of the cranium which coincides with the bottom of the nose. Many movements originate from there without involving the neck;

50% angle of some of the head movements do not involve the neck and when they surpass this percentage the neck is engaged in these movements.

the ribcage range movements: upper ribs little movement and the lower ribs cage do have a little movement.

There is not much space between the ribcage and the pelvis

when the leg is straight the leg rotates from the hip, when the knee bends this rotation involves the knee

The patellar tendon attaches the bottom of the kneecap (patella) to the top of the shinbone (tibia). It allows the knee to fall down when it bends.

A lateral rotation occurs when the inferior pole is directed toward the lateral side of the knee, while a medial rotation occurs when the inferior pole is directed medially. This rotational position may indicate underlying torsion of the tibia such as lateral tibial torsion. So, the foot and the kneecap are not aligned.

Week 6: Project development process

Posted on 27th February 2022 by Marianna Caprio

The game is going to feature a child crying since that the seagulls stole the ice cream

I have used a model from the University library to animate

Since that the movement is going to be looped I created a second long animation with a very emphasised action showing how much the child is disappointed and sad about not having ice cream. I have also made him point to a direction since that, in the game, he is going to call his dad to tell him that the seagulls stole the ice cream.

This week I have also created a grab animation for the player wing to complete the actions in the game

Esme added more joint to the legs rig to create walk circles and also integrated a knee pole using the pole vector constraint; she also included in the attributes of the feet roll controls and toes roll control so that the paws could roll as well which will facilitate a walk cycle. She shared the new rig with me and I after binded the mesh to it.

After binding the skin I started do the skin weight concentrating on the legs first: part of the leg joint influenced the body as well so I made sure that it did not happen.

After I focused on the wings starting from the base making sure that they did not have any influence on the body

Regarding the fingers/feathers of the model I edit the influential of each individual feather focusing especially on the thumb and index to make them separated. To be much more detailed I selected the individual vertices of the feathers mesh and flood the skin weight

I then checked if everything was working fine with the rigs and I noticed that the set driven keys I had previously created weren’t working anymore so I created them back:

first for the fingers to make them curl separately

then for the bottom beak to making it close and also for the eyelids to create an eye blink

Export into Unity experimentation

When exporting the rigged model at first that was the result however that was due to the fact that the history of the mesh was not deleted. However, after figuring this out the mesh was showing but it wasn’t attaching to the rig but the animation existed in the Unity file. Esme did a test export with an animated boney character and that worked. So she replicated the outliner the structure of the groups and replicated it for the seagulls. Then baked the animation onto the rig group, and the animation has to be created on an animation layer as well.

Week 5: Projects developments

Posted on 21st February 2022 by Marianna Caprio

Cat model

This week I modeled the Cat for the “cat’s secret life” project, I feel that that over the last term my modeling skills got better since that I had to create several for these two projects and collaborative project as well and I have now a set of tools in maya that help me model the props and characters.

These are some pictures showing the process of the cat model: I always start from a simple geometry a circle in this case smith it and select the vertices using the smooth selection tool most of the time to create the main shapes: for its head I have used a sphere, for the body a sphere as well and extrude the faces creating proportioned faces following the polymodeling technique for the body I extrude the faces to create the tale, the four legs and the neck too.

From the head shape I extruded the faces for the ears and extruded and moved the vertices to get to the final look. I also deleted some faces after having created them with the multi-cut tool to create a hole for the two eyes that I have created starting from two spheres and selecting the faces to make the pupils assigning them different colours.

I have assigned different colours materials to the body to make the cat similar to a Siamese cat

Which other props will I need for this project?

Based on my storyboards I have created a list of props that I will need to create my short animation “Cat’s Secret life”:person (owner) legs, door, cat’s bed, table with vases and lamp, sausage chain, small sofa.

Since that the perspective of the camera is going to be the one of the cat and therefor in would develop at a lower level following its view, I won’t need a whole body to be modeled but just the legs which I have created with a smoothed sphere polygon and extruding two faces for the legs, and from the legs I consequently extruded other two faces to create the feet. I added few details manipulating the vertices and assigned different textures to differentiate the different parts.

For the cat’s bed I opted for a classic design (just like the one that my own cat has) creating the pillow where he would sit and the side pads I even added a label to allude that that it’s his property.

Final look

One of the scenes depicts the owner living the house an d one the owner coming back home: I have designed a door with a wall for that scene starting form a cube polygon

This is the door knob I have created starting from a cylinder and extruding its faces.

This is a rendered picture

In one of the scenes the cat breaks a vase by pushing it down form a table. I have decided to design a chinese vase to imply the fragility and value of it.

After I had created the main shape I have assigned a texture to it but it was spreader evenly on the surface that’s why I have UV mapped the vase surface

Final rendered picture

The vase is part of the living room scene. To model it I used the following reference picture

I have started form the table trying top match the cube to the reference picture

I then extruded the faces to created the drawers, I also UV mapped the table after using a planar UV Mapping since I have assigned a wood texture and also added a bump map to give it texture too

I also added a canvas on the wall using a drawing I have painted digitally portraying my cat a few years ago since I thought it might fit the topic

I after assembled the scene after creating a lamp as well: I have added some attributes in the emission of the lamp texture to make it glow, I also put two area lights inside to simulate light coming out of it.

This is the final rendered picture

For the sausage chain on which the cat is supposed to swing onto I have first used a cylinder and smoothed it

I have extruded the top and bottom faces to simulate the creases of the sausage

I after duplicated it and give them different angles to simulate a sausage chain

I also modelled the sofa that the cat is going to scratch his nails onto, for this specific model the bevel top was particularly useful to create the pillows of the sofa

For the pillows I had done a research to see which is the best way to model one and I have found this video which was very useful since it show how to use the cloth simulation to quickly create one.

I after UV mapped the faces of the sofa and applied a fabric texture to it in the bump map

I have created three key light to render the sofa

Final rendered picture

Regarding the other project I have textured the Fisherman character which gave him a lot more credibility to the character

Week 5: Establishing a research topic

Posted on 13th February 2022 by Marianna Caprio

Developing a research topic – these points are very informative in the process of finding a topic to research into:

•Will the topic motivate you to research and discover

•How might the inquiry connect with previous established research (especially if there has been carried out a similar research, how might it impact that existing research?)

•Might it impact present or future theoretical and practical study (are there potentials to apply new learning)

•How might the research inform a specific audience (who do you want to inform? practitioners such as other animators or directors, other academics… that can inform them)

•Will the enquiry fulfil and evidence the outcomes outlined in the assignment (development of the proposal should be evidence the assignment)

Once I will decide an interest in a particular area is to pin down the investigated question.

Consider why your research is relevant to the field of study and inform an appropriate audience.

•On graduation which area or environment of production do you wish to focus upon and why? (this might be a starting point for a research topic and also FMP proposal)

•What skills will you need to attain the standards required for vocational practice?

•How will you showcase your FMP practice for the final shows?

•Is it important to directly connect the thesis research to your practical work?

•Do you have an area of research you wish to conduct that is unrelated to practical element?

Thesis structure

•Title page

• Abstract

• Acknowledgements

• Contents page(s)

• Introduction

• Literature review ( critique of materials/sources and methods)

• Methodology (all approaches, and methods applied to develop findings)

• Themed topic chapters

• Results (necessary, depending on research methods)

• Discussion or Findings

• Conclusions

• References

• Appendices

Thesis proposal structure

•Introduction

•Background significance

•Literature review

•Research design, methods, and schedule

•Suppositions and implications

•Conclusion

•Bibliography

Research methods: qualitative and quantitative

Qualitative and quantitative research methods are two established research traditions that underpin all academic articles. Together they provide scope for several approaches to develop topics, structure for enquiry and legitimacy in findings and conclusions. There is important discourse in understanding the definitions and implications of both methods of research.

This specific journal (https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12014) from Kaya Yilmaz defines these methods and differences and provides a guide on how to write an academic article:

In order to back up your work there are two different “systems” you could use to validate your work:

Quantitative research

A testing system that has to be robust that can’t be contested, factual. Proving your point through statistics, through data through survey.

Qualitative research

Qualifying what we are saying not quantifying it. Qualitative research generates “textual data” (non-numerical). Quantitative research, on the contrary, produces “numerical data” or information that can be converted into numbers.

Films states in his article that there are four elements that we need to reflect and address to in terms of research:

Epistemology, what purpose does it have? what is it for? what area does it cover?
Theoretical perspectives, who or what will be studied?
Methodology, which research strategies will be used? Qualitative or quantitative?
Methods, This is not about strategies but tools that will be used to collect and analyse data?

Article Notes Comparison of Quantitative and Qualitative Research Traditions: epistemological, theoretical, and methodological differences

Purpose of this article to explain the major differences between the quantitative and qualitative research paradigms by comparing them in terms of their epistemological, theoretical, and methodological underpinnings

It gives a clear definition of quantitative and qualitative research getting into detail of especially of the latter since “is not based on a single methodology and does not belong to a single discipline“.

The different approaches that quantitative and qualitative researches have in regards of these elements: Epistemology, Theoretical perspectives,Methodology and Methods. In regards of this last point Quantitative uses questionnaires, surveys and systematic measurements involving numbers; Qualitative uses participants’ observation, in-depth interviews, document analysis, and focus groups

the article also examines the main difference between them:

Qualitative methods are especially effective to study a highly individualised programme in which learners who have different abilities, needs, goals, and interests proceed at their own pace. (understand the meaning of the programme for individual participants, their points of view and experiences should be illustrated with their own words)
Quantitative methods are more helpful when conducting research on a broader scale or studying a large number of people, cases, and situations since they are cost-effective and statistical data can provide a succinct and parsimonious summary of major patterns
They differ in terms of their approach to defining the concepts of reliability and validity (accuracy of research data – quantitative). Qualitative research uses its own terms to communicate what is meant by reliability, validity: credibility, trustworthiness, and authenticity (validity) accurate or true for both researcher and participants and dependability and auditability (reliability) consistent over time and across different researchers and different methods or projects.

Developing and testing your topic: critical thinking

Good critical thinking is systematic you need to:

• Investigate the problem thoroughly

• Prosecute and defend the idea

• Cross examine the witnesses (literature), a critique of the literature used, what it can do to support your arguments.

• Sum up and consider theory

• Reach an informed verdict
– In the light of this evidence, it seems that….

Critical thinking involves being skeptical and persistent in constantly reviewing your evidence (Why am I being told this? Who is telling me this? What am I missing). Be analytical and critical is essential (not only descriptive).

Critical thinking means:

What do I want to do? what can I add to these researches? Picking a subject matter is a starting point. Checking the accuracy of information as well as checking the logic of the argument and looking for possible flaws in argument. Moreover is important to understanding why other people see it differently and reaching informed conclusions too.

Key questions:

• What is main point I want to make?

• Can I back up my argument?

• Is my evidence relevant, accurate, up-to-date?

• Is my view based on false premises/false logic?

Present initial thoughts on the potential area/s of research I wish to investigate.

We accept anthropomorphism in animation but actually it can be very judgmental to the way we treat animals the way we look at them as less important than ourself . There are arguments for and against anthropomorphism since it is seen as a dangerous way of portraying animals and it can fall into ethical issues (about animal well fair, human arrogance). (pick at piece of work that is accepted and say: this is ethically wrong).

Anthropomorphism was at the beginning of animation a big area and animal animation was used as a mean to deal with ethical issues. How was/is it it possible?

Week 4: Conceptual abstraction

Posted on 7th February 2022 by Marianna Caprio

The difference between formative abstraction and conceptual abstraction is that the former looks only at the elements and the latter starts to look at story structure or traditional canon and starts to break them down, and is not relying entirely on formal elements: it may use formal elements but it might start to break down film language.

Historically experimentation in these ares do not cancer mass media or commercial industry; festivals however are the place where these works are showcased most of the times. Futurists, Dadaist, Surrealist and Cubists left their mark of film and on animation. In the 1930′ to the 50′ wars, social and cultural arrests take place and concepts in films and art reflects the society at that time. Conceptual abstraction in experimental film reflects a personal vision and is usually an independent film (it may be commissioned). Independent production is harder to define in genre than the mainstream and by nature requires alternative strategies to appraise it.

The semiotics, the metaphor, the symbolism, the juxtaposition of traditional cannons are the elements that characterise conceptual abstraction. These films feature dialogue but not in a traditional sense since is a visual dialogue rather than a sound one. Non-dialogue films challenge the communicator to convey information through gesture and performance, filmic language and alternative audio components.

Jan Svankmajer was an animator pivotal in stop motion, time lapse. This film is an example of a non-dialogue film with dialogue not in a traditional sense. There are many metaphors and symbolism alluding to the human condition, how we communicate with each other and political issues as well: Three surreal depictions of failures of communication that occur on all levels of human society.

Max Hattler is a German CGI artist. This can be consider as an homage to the early experimental artist, during the industrial age, German expressionism.

This film is an example of how it can be possible to create a visual political comment through the use of abstraction. The audio is telling the audience the story. the whole feel of the piece is very engaging not a direct comment but the association is clear: Islamic patterns and American quilts and the colours and geometry of flags as an abstract field of reflection.

This is an experimental portrait of one of the most vertical cities in the world: Hong Kong. There is a strong sense of rhythm and patterns. This experimental animation renders the overwhelming feelings of missing horizon views within megalopoles subjected to densification, while using a photographic technique to reveal the continuity in the buildings’ facades.

Expanded cinema Expanded cinema is used to describe a film, video, multi-media performance or an immersive environment that pushes the boundaries of cinema and rejects the traditional one-way relationship between the audience and the screen. What Max hatter did for this piece put up some fountains that spray water and he projected the film on that cloud of water created by the fountain itself.

this is a chain of animators working together. This not necessarily an experimental animation, however it shows how even different animation can fit together starting from a basic action, in this case a red ball.

These following examples form Bálazs Simon showcase the “commercial side” of experimental animation: you are producing original work, you can still not work in the traditional cannon but still being employable within a studio.

Week 9 (study) – ways to improve your character animation

Posted on 10th December 2021 by Marianna Caprio

1 – observe real-life characters: observing people doing “natural” movements or interacting how they move is very useful to understand the timing and weight of that movement which is something that is not usual to notice.

2- study the psychology of movement: intention is really important to understand the process of that movement: the way we pose and pause can speak as well, the thought process behind actions can help identify with the animation itself.

3- seek out real world references: in order to have a staring point some guidelines for starting the animation it can be useful to record or find some recordings regarding that particular movement.

4- film yourself: to understand how and why a character should move sometimes it could be useful to record yourself the footage. In fact, I have found that for animation involving behavior if I act it out myself I can emote with the moments better and probably get the main “dna” of the animation, the basis to make it believable.

5- keep your rig simple: the best rigs are the ones which leave the animators to animate. They simply pick up the character and move them around them around without any complicated systems to contend with. Even for the body mechanics tasks I have used the character rig provided to us rather than one found on the internet because I thought that those were ideal to fulfill the assignment and let me experiment freely with the right amount of controls which as a first approach to animation they worked just fine.

6- form key poses first: following a layering system ensures you are not wasting precious time. The first layer should be quick poses at specific frames, to get a sense of timing. After the process is repeated adding more detail with each new pass. I have learned throughout the past weeks tasks is to work in sections by starting with the bigger view and going in more detail the more I proceeded. I applied this in particular with characters control starting from the controls that lead the moment such as the root control and spine and adding, only after those worked first, the other controls which were a consequence of those controls.

7- lead with the eyes: the eyes are what we are drawn to the most when we look at someone, and in most cases they are also the first thing to move before the rest of the body. Eyes are also responsible for the intention of the action: in fact is recording the reference footage when performing the lines I have poisoned a prop to aim the line to which help to create the intention and make the performance believable by literally looking at something just like it would be in real life.

8- study the effect of gravity: giving weight to an animation is really important. I think that this can also be correlated with the character posture which should not always be “perfect” but have a natural imperfections which we all have.

9- time your character movements: time can help exaggerate a movement and give emphasis too. Slower movements for instance are often used to show the character is feeling down or upset, just like the case of my performance animation in which the character was upset and the pauses in the animation were essential to convey it

10- keep your character balanced: we are constantly shifting the center of gravity to maintain balance so this needs to be applied to characters to while animating them which can help giving intention to the action

11- offset your keys: in order to give the wave of motions sometimes is useful to shift some keys positions for example for eye gaze when moving is usually the eyes moving and then the rest of the body.

12- don’t form every letter in speech: for lip sync in particular when animating the mouth not all the words of a speech should be included since it would look as the mouth moving too much too quickly.

Creative Bloq. 2021. 15 ways to improve your character animation. [online] Available at: <https://www.creativebloq.com/audiovisual/improve-character-animation-41411447> [Accessed 12 December 2021].

M.Caprio lcc 3D Computer Animation

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