Final GPT, moving on to 3D
OK, so here it is, my final grease pencil test before moving onto 3D. I am taking the big leap from the planning phase to actually posing out my 3D character. This is an especially hard step to take since there is somehow a feeling of safety in the planning phase, the feeling of, "I haven't screwed this one up yet" Lots of things can go wrong in the 3D world, I find more stuff goes wrong if I haven't put enough time in the planning and research phases. But it is time to move on.
I am also pretty scared since I am going to use one of the characters at work for this test, the rig setups are pretty complicated, like nothing I've ever worked with before since the only other rigs I worked on were from school. I am familiar enough with the rigs form my day to day work so hopefully it will go alright. Since my last semester at Animation Mentor, we had Bishop as our character, he was pretty simple and straightforward, he was really easy to use. Now all the rigs at work are of the "broken rig" variety, which is similar to ik, meaning you can move the head, torso, hips all independantly of eachother. This sounds great to me since I only use ik arms and have gotten pretty used to that system. I like having that control over every part of the body.
In class 3 at AM, Bishop had limited facial controls, a muppet mouth basically. The characters at work are full facial with a million sliders and manipulators, something which I feel slightly underprepared for. I had tried one lipsync test before about 4 years ago and nothing since then. So all last week at work I had been working on my lipsync skills. I read up on some documentation we had from Mark Austin which goes in depth on how to create believeable lip sync. And then I gave it a whirl for myself. I think it came out reletively alright for my first try with such a complicated character. Now I'm not as scared about going back in and adding more detail. I'll be ok thanks to the great help and feeback I get from my co-workers.
posted by anthea @ 3:53 PM
6 Comments:
Hey Anthea, the Class 4 AM rig is just what you are talking about. Bishop now has an IK spine, a fist full of face controls and there is also this crazy rubber arm control, so you can really get wacky. Its the next big step and I'm sure that this will be great. It's good that you've gotten to run the rig around some before you got too deep in a personal animation.
I like where you are going
with the gp test. Best of luck.
Hey Anthea! Your g/p is looking good and I'm looking fwd to seeing you get into 3d with it. I love falls, btw. Hey do you have any footage of Chevy Chase's falls?
I have one note on your g/p. You see how the character's right foot is up in the air at 197? I think it might be funny if that foot continues so that on the next key it's up above his head before it tucks like you have at 198. This should be a pretty fun scene to do!
hi james!! yeah, sometimes it's hard to find things to post about since i can't say anything about the movie we're working on. i really like reading all the AM blogs since it's my only way of staying connected now that i'm not a classmate anymore, i miss all you guys so much!
hey brad! how is bang! going? wow, sounds like the new bishop is awesome, i love the way that AM gradually adds in complexity in a way that is so natural, they nver give you more than you can handle, and you are always taking steps to imrove through their curriculum. from what i've seen so far from everyone's blogs, people are handling the new bishop with ease, i hope i can do the same here w the wacky broken rig here at work.
hi kenny! you know, i haven't really seen many chevy chase movies, maybe i shoudl netflix some. good call with the leg in the air, i like that suggestion and i think it will add to the cartoony style of this one.
Hey Anthea!
Thanks for stoppin by my blog! Ive always been a fan of yours since school and its so nice that someone from tinsel town would even stop by mine!! Youre my hero and keep on keepin on girl!
Hey Anthea, Thx for the crit this week. I am sure by now you have started the blocking on this bad boy, but I wanted to give you my 2 cents.
I think you did a great job with the story. The butterfly on the stick is a nice idea. The acting works really well. I just have one thing to nitpick.
I think the first pose is a bit too relaxed. I know you are going for contrast, but I think the range feels just a bit too much for the character. If he was really as cool as that first pose suggests than the howling wouldn't really bother him.
I could see it being more of a change from somewhat tense.. to extremely tense, rather than cool and collected to tense.
Another thing to consider is the staging of the shot. right now you have the character and prop in the middle of the screen.. which works.. it gives us the idea that he is in the middle of nowhere. However you may want to try working with some different camera positions. maybe try a staging where the noise is coming from off stage right or left, and pull the action to one side of the screen and then push it back the other way when the character reacts to the butter fly.
that's all I got for now.
I can't even imagine how many nuts and bolts are on the rigs you are using. I guess the best way to get past the intimidation factor is to just get right in there and get your hands dirty.
Hopefully at some point down the road you will be able to share this stuff with us.
hey mel! no, it's you that rocks sir. your drawings are awesome!! keep at it! you have a real talent for character design. i hope your having a good time in AM, i miss the campus so much.
hey sternio! yeah i did start playing around with the 3d blocking this week. it's been super hard to get the poses that i want. esp since a lot of mine are hunched over and it's been hard to get a nice spine curve using the broken spine, since the torso and hips can move independant of eachother, i am having a hard time adjusting.
you know, that's not the first time i heard that about him being to relaxed in the beginning poses. i have to agree that the transition from bored to super scared isn't working that well. i tried to compensate by making the transition more snappy and cartoony, but i think i should do more research on a new attitude for the opening. originally i wanted him to read as kidlike, so i did research on kids camping, but now he looks to relaxed and uncaring, maybe there is a happy medium with him looking like a slighty concerned kid?
i did decide to place him a little more screen left than what is in this gpt. are youtalking about also moving the camera? having camera animation?
great advice, thx!!
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