This term's project has been what I expected from day 1 - lots of hard work! My initial idea was to go solo again and focus on character animation, although watching and listening to the 3rd years pitch to us inspired me to help out with them. I thought working for the 3rd years would be a really key time to keep practicing rigging and improve a little on character animation. Throughout the whole project I have had to do little chasing to get work, because quite a few groups were in need of help, and as soon as they saw someone willing with efficiency - they pounced. I initially planned to only work for one or two projects, helping with their rigs if improvements needed and a few animated shots. Instead, I was thrown right in the deep end from the get go, and was assigned a full character rig for Wack'D. Before this time I had never fully rigged a full character from head to toe including blendshapes etc, although I had done sections before. Completing it was a real boost to my own confidence and trust in my own decisions because it worked out well, despite a lot of painstakin-headbashing-moments.
After that, I also helped out with a few issues for sarahs project such as stretchy limbs, and a rig for a fishing rod. After she saw this she was happy to give me another of her characters - hero - to create a facial panel for, connecting blendshapes to controls using mel script. Later on in this term, I have also helped her with 2 animated shots, with another 1 or 2 continueing into next week.
I also did a test animation for the Pirate group, although they didn't get back to me on the test I sent them and after chasing them a few times for feedback they still didnt reply to my email so that got no further - they seemed like they had a lot of helping hands.
Finally, I also tweaked Jed's Rig a few times for Polished Off, as there were initially problems with the hair of the rig. This then went onto bigger issues that needed solving, mainly because the rigger before over-complicated the rig and tried to replicate something he obviously had no clue about. So i was assigned the task of simplifying it so that it could be animateable, scaleable and rotateable! They later came back to me with a few more issues, such as the hoover which had a few issues that were reasonably quick fixes. Then after that, Phil, came to me asking for help rigging one of their characters on Splay, Boid. Boid was a challenge because they wanted a feature that I had seen, but not achieved before, and that was "tube" legs where you can manipulate the legs into curve shapes, ON TOP of Ik handles or FK. Again after head bashing and somehow making a break through without using tutorials I managed to find a way by creating a node and connecting the ... to...the node... in the...well...yeah you get the idea - long and complicated. So i managed to complete that for them within a week of their asking deadline.
On top of all that, I had to gather together all my work for a DVD showreel, and a poster/board thing for Rave live (many thanks to Ben Keswick, he did a superb job as both leading the rave peeps and being an overall awesome person.) Learning DVD Studio Pro upstairs on the last week probably wasn't the best idea, but I'm happy with the result on my DVD (unfortunately didn't get shown at the Rave Live event.)
So, I have learnt, that learning to go past things that you don't know is something I'm only just seeing the beginning of. The third year is going to be a multitude of compensating time, effort, skill and work to get something done. It's going to be a massive hassle with the gambling hope that the end result will end up with the premise of Avatar. Getting past three obstacles, and finishing positively is a great feeling to have, and I'm buzzing to start the summer. Over the summer I will be learning more advanced rigging, going in depth to muscles, fur and dynamics - with the intent of creating a hyper-awesome tiger creature with believable movement. The whole end result will be geared towards believablity. Below are a couple of aims I hope to achieve over the summer:
- finish 1st draft of Dissertation
- model and rig a hyper-realistic tiger/bird/monster
- explore facial rigging
- rendering and lighting, especially outdoor environments, and taking notes of things such as "how long does 1 frame take to render" and how to efficiently take down render time.
- CHARACTER ANIMATE! I want to have at least 4-5 short animated clips including lip sync, and action animations. This is a area I have not been able to focus on this year, so really nailing it over the summer is crucial.
- drawings, and character designs
See you on the other side!
Friday, 21 May 2010
Thursday, 20 May 2010
More emailling shinanigins (p4) - SPLAY
RE: Boid changes
| From: | Phil Brooks (philjbrooks@hotmail.co.uk) |
| Sent: | 17 May 2010 09:10:49 |
| To: | clym (clym123@hotmail.com) |
Nice one Clym,
Thanks for sorting this character out, it's a huge weight of our shoulders. I'll sort the eyes out at some point so don't worry about them,
My thanks,
Phil
Hey Clym,
No problem, I'll send you over the model later today with a few images to show you what it needs to do. As for a deadline I'd say the 19th which would give you 2 weeks from today,
thanks,
Phil
From: clym123@hotmail.com
To: philjbrooks@hotmail.co.uk
Subject: RE: Splay rig
Date: Tue, 4 May 2010 10:36:59 +0000
hey Phil,
sorry for not replying sooner. If you'd still like me to rig your character I can. If you can let me know what features you want on it (such as, stretchy legs/arms, IK or FK controls or both, facial control etc) but bearing in mind, the more you want to add the longer it will take. So my advice is make it applyable to what the characters movement is...so if its mainly focused on the legs then there won't be a need for facial control - pretty self explanitary. If you could also give me a deadline too, and i'll work to that.
thanks
Clym
From: philjbrooks@hotmail.co.uk
To: clym123@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Splay rig
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2010 08:55:52 +0100
Clym,
It works a treat and you've put me back on schedule so many thanks, I knew the eyes wouldn't move with the hip control so it is no problem at all. Let me know if you'd be interested in rigging us a character because I'd like you to, you'd probably breeze it in 1-2 days the speed you work.
Thanks,
Phil
From: clym123@hotmail.com
To: philjbrooks@hotmail.co.uk
Subject: RE: Splay rig
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:54:37 +0000
Hey Phil,
i've attached the edited file, the torso and eyes now rotate with the main control. I've also made the eyes move with the square control thats in front of the eyes, so they move, scale, rotate with it etc. If you rotate the main control, then say the hip control...the eyes won't move with the mesh so they'll have to be manually tweaked for the deformation of the body. Hope that makes sense, you'll probably find out what I mean when you play around with it.
Any other problems, don't hesitate to contact me.
Cheers,
Clym
From: philjbrooks@hotmail.co.uk
To: clym123@hotmail.com
Subject: Splay rig
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:37:59 +0100
Hey Clym,
Incase you forgot the problem is the with the eyes not following the rotations of the body. This is the earliest version of the file and the body isn't actually even attached to a control. Could you hook up the body to move with the Torso Control and have the eyes follow the body, but let them be movable from the eye control?
Let me Know if I'm not making any sense,
Would it also be possible for you to rig a character for us in the following weeks?
Phil
sorry for not replying sooner. If you'd still like me to rig your character I can. If you can let me know what features you want on it (such as, stretchy legs/arms, IK or FK controls or both, facial control etc) but bearing in mind, the more you want to add the longer it will take. So my advice is make it applyable to what the characters movement is...so if its mainly focused on the legs then there won't be a need for facial control - pretty self explanitary. If you could also give me a deadline too, and i'll work to that.
thanks
Clym
From: philjbrooks@hotmail.co.uk
To: clym123@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Splay rig
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2010 08:55:52 +0100
Clym,
It works a treat and you've put me back on schedule so many thanks, I knew the eyes wouldn't move with the hip control so it is no problem at all. Let me know if you'd be interested in rigging us a character because I'd like you to, you'd probably breeze it in 1-2 days the speed you work.
Thanks,
Phil
From: clym123@hotmail.com
To: philjbrooks@hotmail.co.uk
Subject: RE: Splay rig
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:54:37 +0000
Hey Phil,
i've attached the edited file, the torso and eyes now rotate with the main control. I've also made the eyes move with the square control thats in front of the eyes, so they move, scale, rotate with it etc. If you rotate the main control, then say the hip control...the eyes won't move with the mesh so they'll have to be manually tweaked for the deformation of the body. Hope that makes sense, you'll probably find out what I mean when you play around with it.
Any other problems, don't hesitate to contact me.
Cheers,
Clym
From: philjbrooks@hotmail.co.uk
To: clym123@hotmail.com
Subject: Splay rig
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:37:59 +0100
Hey Clym,
Incase you forgot the problem is the with the eyes not following the rotations of the body. This is the earliest version of the file and the body isn't actually even attached to a control. Could you hook up the body to move with the Torso Control and have the eyes follow the body, but let them be movable from the eye control?
Let me Know if I'm not making any sense,
Would it also be possible for you to rig a character for us in the following weeks?
Phil
Emailling Shinangins (p3) Polished Off
Here ya go mate, I've attached the rig and just incase the rapidshare link:
*********************************************************
Problems:
- Can't roatate the whole rig
- Cant rotate the head from side to side
- Cant scale the rig without legs and head messing up
- Headphones seem to warp when head is moved
- Eyes leave sockets when head is rotated
- Buttons dont rotate with the torso (wrapped)
- Any other problems you can find!
If you could solve these you are an absolute legend! Thanks for helping, we really apprerciate it...
Dan Edgley
From: Dan Edgley (d.edgley@hotmail.co.uk)
Sent: 15 April 2010 17:18:27
To: clym123@hotmail.com
Clym,
What you have done is unbelievable, the rig is now perfect. Everything is fine, I've just spent the past 10 minutes looking for problems and trying to break it but I cant! I cant thank you enough mate, you'll definately be getting a mention in the credits. One last thing.... how easy was it to solve the wrist rotation issue? Only because we have the same problem with our Ed rig but we're having to work around it which is really annoying.
Thanks again,
Edgley
*********************************************************
Problems:
- Can't roatate the whole rig
- Cant rotate the head from side to side
- Cant scale the rig without legs and head messing up
- Headphones seem to warp when head is moved
- Eyes leave sockets when head is rotated
- Buttons dont rotate with the torso (wrapped)
- Any other problems you can find!
If you could solve these you are an absolute legend! Thanks for helping, we really apprerciate it...
Dan Edgley
From: Dan Edgley (d.edgley@hotmail.co.uk)
Sent: 15 April 2010 17:18:27
To: clym123@hotmail.com
Clym,
What you have done is unbelievable, the rig is now perfect. Everything is fine, I've just spent the past 10 minutes looking for problems and trying to break it but I cant! I cant thank you enough mate, you'll definately be getting a mention in the credits. One last thing.... how easy was it to solve the wrist rotation issue? Only because we have the same problem with our Ed rig but we're having to work around it which is really annoying.
Thanks again,
Edgley
| From: | CLYM SMITH (clym123@hotmail.com) | ||||
| Sent: | 27 April 2010 21:31:44 | ||||
| To: | d.edgley@hotmail.co.uk | ||||
| |
Hey,
whoooopss I had made the changes...then undid them....just sorted them again silly me. Here's the working one!! :P
From: d.edgley@hotmail.co.uk
To: clym123@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Floor Polisher
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 22:20:32 +0100
Cheers for the quick reply pal,
I just opened it but the key frame problem remains? The handlebars no longer deform which is awesome, however when I keyframe the handle controls and then say a few frames later bend the main pole control they are left behind or snap back to their original position.... not sure if you get what I mean? Try key framing all the controls and you'll see what I mean!
Dan
whoooopss I had made the changes...then undid them....just sorted them again silly me. Here's the working one!! :P
From: d.edgley@hotmail.co.uk
To: clym123@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Floor Polisher
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 22:20:32 +0100
Cheers for the quick reply pal,
I just opened it but the key frame problem remains? The handlebars no longer deform which is awesome, however when I keyframe the handle controls and then say a few frames later bend the main pole control they are left behind or snap back to their original position.... not sure if you get what I mean? Try key framing all the controls and you'll see what I mean!
Dan
More emailing shinanigins (p2) - PIRATES
| From: | CLYM SMITH (clym123@hotmail.com) |
| Sent: | 27 April 2010 19:57:03 |
| To: | art_forte@hotmail.co.uk |
Hey Tom,
sorry for the delay in getting this shot done - seems like rigging is finally past! so i finally did your shot (39)
check it out at: http://clym208.blogspot.com/2010/04/ooo-arrrr.html
let me knw what you think, what you don't like etc - i'll be in on thursday if you want to talk directly otherwise i'm happy to recieve feedback and do any changes or whatever tomorrow over mail.
Thanks!
Clym
From: art_forte@hotmail.co.uk
To: clym123@hotmail.com
Subject: Patches Shot
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:07:47 +0100
Hi Clym,
With Patches finally done and we can start animating...
Scene 39: Patches Pick Up Melon
Scene 39, all u need to do is animate Patches picking up the watermelon. The animatic is on the blog and the public. This scene will the be imported into the environment and once you've done that jus send or bring it to me. Need any help please don't hesitate to find me in the 3rd year room or email me okayz?
regards,
Tom
sorry for the delay in getting this shot done - seems like rigging is finally past! so i finally did your shot (39)
check it out at: http://clym208.blogspot.com/2010/04/ooo-arrrr.html
let me knw what you think, what you don't like etc - i'll be in on thursday if you want to talk directly otherwise i'm happy to recieve feedback and do any changes or whatever tomorrow over mail.
Thanks!
Clym
From: art_forte@hotmail.co.uk
To: clym123@hotmail.com
Subject: Patches Shot
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:07:47 +0100
Hi Clym,
With Patches finally done and we can start animating...
Scene 39: Patches Pick Up Melon
Scene 39, all u need to do is animate Patches picking up the watermelon. The animatic is on the blog and the public. This scene will the be imported into the environment and once you've done that jus send or bring it to me. Need any help please don't hesitate to find me in the 3rd year room or email me okayz?
regards,
Tom
Some Emailing Shinanigins (GNOME)
here are some emails sent through the last few weeks regarding animation shots for the Gnome team.
gnome:
start:
From: Sarah Verrall (s.verrall@rave.ac.uk)
Sent: 26 March 2010 14:47:52
To: clym123@hotmail.com
Hey Clym
Sarah from the 3rd Year here!
Just emailing to see if your still interested in helping out on our film
Gnomes as I know you put yourself down for character animation and
rigging.
Our rig will be available from Monday to start practising animation with,
and give feedback on, so you can begin some walk cycles and send us
through some playblasts/link to your blog or alternativly come find me to
show me your work. Im usually in most days up in the 3rd Year Animation
room.
Email me back and letme know asap please
Thanks
Sarah
MID:
From: Sarah Verrall (s.verrall@rave.ac.uk)
Sent: 14 April 2010 21:45:58
To: clym123@hotmail.com
clym
cheers again for help today.
to business...Ive been sent through the blendshapes for Hero Gnome but
after checking through the file..a few of them dont work so ive sent the
work back to Yaniv to redo some bits/srot out so im afraid its gonna have
to be pushed back to tomorrow that i pass over the work to you now.
Sorry about this but hopefully we'll have this sorted pronto and u can
have some lovely work from us to do.
I'll keep you posted sport
Sarah
From: Sarah Verrall (s.verrall@yahoo.com)
Sent: 06 May 2010 16:38:15
To: clym123@hotmail.com
Hi Clym,
here are the details of your new shot. Please aim for completion by Monday 12th May
Shot 28
Character: Macho Gnome
Props: Pot (please log in to our Adrive account and the pot file is in the props directory)
Duration: 2 secs (50 frames)
Description:
This is the end of Macho successfully managing to lift the pot, huzzar hes done it. The pot should be directly up in the air and macho should be grinning if not slightly puffed out from his efforts.
From: Sarah Verrall (s.verrall@yahoo.com)
Sent: 11 May 2010 22:47:26
To: CLYM SMITH (clym123@hotmail.com)
Hey Clym
thanks for the playblast, its looking good. A few points for change:
this is gonna be a low angle shot so all of his body will be seen. I would widen the stance of his legs (not drastically) and and turn his feet outwards to show hes holding some strain/weight.
his facial expression needs to look a bit more smug at the end i feel. hes gotta be so arrogant at this point hes almost too cocky. I would opt for the one side smile instead of showing the teeth as with that particular brow shape he looks slightly angry.
Its looking fan-dabba-doosey though so keep up the good work. I'll keep you posted on the extra week after deadlines work but thanks for agreeing to help us out on that one, its very much appreciated.
Keep me posted on this shot, hopefully another day on it and it should be polished up looking goooooood and i can send you some more.
Thanks
Sarah
END
Hey Clym
Sorry when i meant dont make the pot move in that shot it obviously does need to follow the hands. Can see what you've done now so soooorrrrrrryyy could you change that back again please as yes it does need to go along with the arms.
Other shot with the panic...just push the expression in the eyebrows a little bit more but other than its looking sweet.
Sorry to muck you around on this one duuuuuuude. Shall give you anoter shot by the end of the day but get your showreel done n dusted mate as we neeeeeeeeeeeeeed you.
Sarah
From: CLYM SMITH
To: s.verrall@yahoo.com
Sent: Mon, May 17, 2010 11:51:46 PM
Subject: RE:
Hey sarah,
attached is shot 31, and 28 update!!
31, changed the eyebrow expression so more is ahhhh and less grrrrrr lol
28, u said to change shot 31 (pot movement) but there's no pot in that shot! so presumed u meant 28...now the pot doesn't move. (also did a quick playblast in "non-smooth-preview")
will be in tomorrow in ping pong sorting out showreel if u wanna come and chatt.
taa,
Clym
gnome:
start:
From: Sarah Verrall (s.verrall@rave.ac.uk)
Sent: 26 March 2010 14:47:52
To: clym123@hotmail.com
Hey Clym
Sarah from the 3rd Year here!
Just emailing to see if your still interested in helping out on our film
Gnomes as I know you put yourself down for character animation and
rigging.
Our rig will be available from Monday to start practising animation with,
and give feedback on, so you can begin some walk cycles and send us
through some playblasts/link to your blog or alternativly come find me to
show me your work. Im usually in most days up in the 3rd Year Animation
room.
Email me back and letme know asap please
Thanks
Sarah
MID:
From: Sarah Verrall (s.verrall@rave.ac.uk)
Sent: 14 April 2010 21:45:58
To: clym123@hotmail.com
clym
cheers again for help today.
to business...Ive been sent through the blendshapes for Hero Gnome but
after checking through the file..a few of them dont work so ive sent the
work back to Yaniv to redo some bits/srot out so im afraid its gonna have
to be pushed back to tomorrow that i pass over the work to you now.
Sorry about this but hopefully we'll have this sorted pronto and u can
have some lovely work from us to do.
I'll keep you posted sport
Sarah
From: Sarah Verrall (s.verrall@yahoo.com)
Sent: 06 May 2010 16:38:15
To: clym123@hotmail.com
Hi Clym,
here are the details of your new shot. Please aim for completion by Monday 12th May
Shot 28
Character: Macho Gnome
Props: Pot (please log in to our Adrive account and the pot file is in the props directory)
Duration: 2 secs (50 frames)
Description:
This is the end of Macho successfully managing to lift the pot, huzzar hes done it. The pot should be directly up in the air and macho should be grinning if not slightly puffed out from his efforts.
From: Sarah Verrall (s.verrall@yahoo.com)
Sent: 11 May 2010 22:47:26
To: CLYM SMITH (clym123@hotmail.com)
Hey Clym
thanks for the playblast, its looking good. A few points for change:
this is gonna be a low angle shot so all of his body will be seen. I would widen the stance of his legs (not drastically) and and turn his feet outwards to show hes holding some strain/weight.
his facial expression needs to look a bit more smug at the end i feel. hes gotta be so arrogant at this point hes almost too cocky. I would opt for the one side smile instead of showing the teeth as with that particular brow shape he looks slightly angry.
Its looking fan-dabba-doosey though so keep up the good work. I'll keep you posted on the extra week after deadlines work but thanks for agreeing to help us out on that one, its very much appreciated.
Keep me posted on this shot, hopefully another day on it and it should be polished up looking goooooood and i can send you some more.
Thanks
Sarah
END
Hey Clym
Sorry when i meant dont make the pot move in that shot it obviously does need to follow the hands. Can see what you've done now so soooorrrrrrryyy could you change that back again please as yes it does need to go along with the arms.
Other shot with the panic...just push the expression in the eyebrows a little bit more but other than its looking sweet.
Sorry to muck you around on this one duuuuuuude. Shall give you anoter shot by the end of the day but get your showreel done n dusted mate as we neeeeeeeeeeeeeed you.
Sarah
From: CLYM SMITH
To: s.verrall@yahoo.com
Sent: Mon, May 17, 2010 11:51:46 PM
Subject: RE:
Hey sarah,
attached is shot 31, and 28 update!!
31, changed the eyebrow expression so more is ahhhh and less grrrrrr lol
28, u said to change shot 31 (pot movement) but there's no pot in that shot! so presumed u meant 28...now the pot doesn't move. (also did a quick playblast in "non-smooth-preview")
will be in tomorrow in ping pong sorting out showreel if u wanna come and chatt.
taa,
Clym
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Showreel Menu
Here's an image showing my dvd menu that I'm using for my DVD. Made using Photoshop, and the DVD was made in DVD Studio Pro.
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