My Journey into Animation

The Animated Climb - Part 1

So last week I posted the blocking for the animation project I started. This is the post for the first version of it completely animated. This project alone has taught my a lot more than what many of my school projects have taught me which I will go into below but for now, here is the video. If you could take a moment and give me some feedback/criticism, I would greatly appreciate it.

So I made a post about the walk cycle last week. Well I later found that what I had was a bit robotic when it came to walking. It all came down to a couple frames during each cycle for the forward position and the lifting position. Something so simple as a character setting his foot down a couple frames too fast makes a big difference.

Timing is another interesting subject in regards to this. I knew the basics of timing for the walk cycle but everything else was just estimation. Sometimes it worked out perfectly, other times not so much. Because of that, the animation has been extended by a few seconds but it makes a difference.

One of the tools that came in handy while editing this was Maya’s ability to display motion paths. While I had the graph editor open, it was not a very good way to see the path of an object. The only thing I think that would help with all of this was if the handles were a bit easier to modify. I am used to After Effects which as a tool dedicated to modifying the curve of points via the handles.

(Source: darrolmoore.com)

Jan 05

My first steps into CG animation… Well maybe my second…

Despite all my animatic work, I am still pretty rubbish at animation itself. In After Effects I can easily move layers in 2D and 3D space to get the desired effect. CG animation is a whole different ballgame as far as I can tell. As one of the many steps I am taking before I start on my planned animated short, I am working on my animation skills. To do this, I am pulling together information from various sources. The main stuff is coming from my traditional animation course that I took last year. There is some that I am taking from books such as The Animator’s Survival Kit and The Illusion of Life. Online I have been getting a lot of tips from reading the Animation Tips & Tricks blog set up by Animation Mentor.

My Past Work

I thought it might be best to go over what I have done up to this point. Apologies in advances since this is going to be a bit lengthy. Back when I was in high school, I was apart of the video production program and ended as the main editor for the weekly news show. Because most of the work for me came in later in the week, I had a lot of free time and I used that time to teach myself After Effects. I was just doing basic visual effects and motion graphic type work as I figured it was just something to fill the void since I wanted to go into film editorial at the time.

Introduction

Hello everyone. My name is Darrol and I am creating this blog as a way of keeping track of my work and what I learn along the way. Right now I am going to school but my major isn’t exactly along the path that I ultimately desire to go down which isn’t a total loss because I am still learning a lot of things that will be useful down the road. When I first enrolled at Mt. Sierra College, I wanted to go into visual effects. It wasn’t until later that things changed when I started to see things a little bit more clearly. It is hard to explain but I decided that I wanted to move in a different direction. I thought about what I enjoyed and what I have shown that I am good at which brought me to animation.

When I say animation, I don’t necessarily mean animation itself but rather the animation field. I have yet to fully experiment to find out what I want to do specifically so I plan to go through the full process. Or at least most of it. My goal by graduation is to have completed a short animated film. I already have an idea for it that I am continually refining it.