Max Maya

I have downloaded a model and rig so that I can see how a character is rigged and how different parts of the character move. The character I have downloaded is Max for Maya 1.1.4 (seen to the left).

I will use this charcter to animate a few scenes, then I will create my own character and rig.

I downloaded the character from the site below:
http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/character-rigs/c/max-for-maya/description#tabs

Research

As part of this project I had to write a report based on my specialist study subject, as the report and project are so closely linked the things I researched and found out whilst writing my report I could then apply to my project. I learnt many things before writing my report because I used books, pictures and websites to back up my report. I have looked deeply at the work of Les Pardew, Ed Hooks, Pixar, Issac Victor Kerlow, George Maestri as well as looking at other practitioners who relate to my specialist study, some of these may have been mentioned elsewhere in the blog however the bulk of my research and knowledge from these practitioners is in my report which can be found at: http://specialist-study-report.blogspot.com

Charlie Chaplin & Buster Keaton

During this course we have looked at old comedies starring the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, these actors have helped my project as they know how to use empathy and emotion in thier performances to get the desired affect from the audience, they use a number of the principles of animation in thier performances including staging, exaggeration and timing. Also Ed Hooks who I've researched during this project admires the work of Charlie Chaplin and considers him to be a genius of comedy.

Ed Hooks On Charlie Chaplin
"Charlie Chaplin brought empathy to comedy. Before Chaplin, it was all Keystone Cops,
pratfalls, banging into trees, slipping on banana peels. Chaplin understood that the joke was not in the slipping on the banana peel, but in the emotional reaction to it after the fact. You understand that? Okay. He used to get his foot caught in a bucket. There was a gag in the old silent movies where you’d get your foot caught in the bucket, and you’d hear the music… And they bucket and they’re kicking it off, kicking it off. Chaplin got his foot caught in that same bucket. But instead of trying to kick it off, he’d try to hide it while he was getting it off. He’d try and maintain his dignity while he got himself unentangled from the bucket. All the while, there’d be girls watching. He understood that quality about embarrassment, that quality about empathy. I think that watching Charlie Chaplin movies is one of the best things you can do. If you’re only going to watch three Charlie Chaplin movies, watch “Goldrush”, “City Lights” and “Modern Times”. There’s a wonderful new collection out now. They’ve digitally re-mastered several of Chaplin’s classic movies, documentaries. I recommend it. But don’t watch it as if it was made in the 1930’s, watch it as if it was made last year. He was a genius. He would still be a genius if he was around today".

Emotion: John Lasseter

John Lasseter
"The personality of a charcter is conveyed through emotion and emotion is the best indicator as to how fast an action should be".

Whilst researching for this project and for my report I came across a website that focused on the principles of animation and was called Tricks to Animating Characters with a Computer by John Lasseter. On this website he comments on how the timing of a charcter is effected by thier current emotional state, he chose to use Luxo Jr as an example of how timing can be used in animation to get the best from your charcters, to keep the audiences attention and to help convey the emotion of a character

The Movements of Luxo Jr
"When he is chasing the ball, he is very excited and happy with all his thoughts on the ball. His head is up looking at the ball, the timing of his hops are fast as there is very little time spent on the ground between hops because he can’t wait to get to the ball. After he pops the ball, however, his hop changes drastically, reflecting his sadness that the object of all his thoughts and energy just a moment ago is now dead. As he hops off, his head is down, the timing of each hop is slower, with much more time on the ground between hops. Before, he had a direction and a purpose to his hop. Now he is just hopping off to nowhere." Looking at Luxo Jr as referance for my project you can clearly tell, despite the fact that the is no dialogue and that the characters are objects rather then people, what the charcters want and how they feel, this is why timing is so important especially to an animation like this where the movements and actions of the character are the entire focus of the story.

The Personality
"A simple way to distinguish the personalities of your characters is through contrast of movement." In animation it is important that the personality of a character sets them apart from other characters on the screen, if the peronality of contrasting characters are the same then the story will be less exciting for the audience as the movements, actions and emotions of the charcter are likely to be enacted in the same way as all these points add to the personality of a charcter. "Both Dad and Jr. bat the ball with their heads. Yet Dad, who is larger and older, leans over the ball and uses only his shade to bat it. Jr., however, is smaller, younger, and full of energy, he whacks the ball with his whole shade, putting his whole body into it." This shows the way in which the personality and movements of a charcter will be effected depending on who the charcter is and what thier purpose is, it is likely that younger charcters will be full of energy and that older charcters will prefer to remain calm and relaxed, however this isn't always the case but many animations will use a standard stereotype to find out how their character would react in this situation.

The Thinking Character
Making sure that your character looks as though they are thinking about the movements will help to make the animation more realistic as it is the same way as humans would react. Walt Disney said, "In most instances, the driving forces behind the action is the mood, the personality, the attitude of the character—or all three. Therefore, the mind is the pilot. We think of things before the body does them." The thoughts of a charcter have to come before the movement and if the character isn't thinking anything then the is less likely to be any movement from the character and the thinking of a movement depends on the personality of a charcter and will differ depending on the different types of charcters that you have "To convey the idea that the thoughts of a character are driving its actions, a simple trick is in the anticipation".

Timing & Anticipation
John Lasseter refered to these two principles together as he believes that they are closely related when an animator is animating, as anticipation is a build up over time and spare time in an animation is sometimes used when the audience are anticipating something, these two principles help to make an animation more realistic and as John Lasseter said these are "critical to making ideas readable". "It is important to spend enough time (but no more) preparing the audience for: the anticipation of an action; the action itself; and the reaction to the action (the follow through). If too much time is spent on any of these, the audience’s attention will wander. If too little time is spent, the movement may be finished before the audience notices it, thus wasting the idea". If the movement of a charcter is not timed or anticipated by the charcter properlly then the audience may miss read the action and not be able to follow the story.

Staging
Staging is important as it is needed in animation to focuse the audiences attention and help certain aspects of a scene stand out from other parts of the scene. "The object of interest should be significantly contrasted against the rest of the scene. In a still scene, the eye will be attracted to movement. In a very busy scene, the eye will be attracted to something that is still." Once again here we are looking at how movement of charcters are used in animation to help focus the audiences attention, whether the charcter is moving or standing still, if the audience can read the actions of a character then they should be able to follow the story.

"In Luxo Jr., it was very important that the audience was looking in the right place at the right time, because the story, acting and emotion was being put across with movement alone, in pantomime, and sometimes the movement was very subtle. If the audience missed an action, an emotion would be missed, and the story would suffer. So the action had to be timed and paced so that only Dad or Jr. was doing an important action at any one time, never both. In the beginning of the film, Dad is on-screen alone and your eye is on him. But as soon as Jr. hops on-screen, he is moving faster than Dad; therefore the audience’s eye immediately goes to him and stays there, Dad’s actions are timed to be very subtle, so the attention of the audience is always on Jr. where most of the story was being told. If Dad’s actions were important, Jr.’s actions were toned down and Dad’s movements were emphasized then the attention of the audience would transfer to Dad. For example, when Jr. looks up to Dad after he’s popped the ball and Dad shakes his head, all eyes are on Jr." Luxo Jr is a great example how these principles of animation are used within an animation the timing and actions of the charcater had to be right so that the attention of the audience was always in the right place at the right time as John Lasseter said this is important so that the audience do not miss an action ottherwise they may not be able to follow what was happening on screen and the animation would suffer due to this.

Silhouettes & Line Of Action

I have included silhouettes and line of action because the way both of the images are designed and made has enabled the designer to catch the emotion and movement of the characters. Line of action allows the animator to make the actions of the character clearer by exaggerating on the movement of the character and from the last key frame you can see what sort of action has been performed. The silhouettes allow the viewer to not only see the line of action but also captures the characters movement and emotion in a single shot.

Reference

Below are videos of WALL.E, Fantasia and Luxo Jr, as I mentioned in my report these particular animations have to rely on the characters performance to tell the story as the is little or no dialogue in all of these animations, therefore it can be said that animations such as the ones below will need to improve on their characters performance as the is no supporting dialogue and because they need to rely on their performance the is a lot of emotion, movement and action from the characters which is exactly the kind of reference material I need to assist me in this project.

Reference: Toy Story

I have looked at Toy Story for a number of reasons firstly the movement of the characters is performed and done brilliantly and the emotion and conflict seen between the characters is a great reference for my project and will be able to help me when I start animating. Also Toy Story has been used by Pixar when they were showing people how they animate and the best ways to animate, therefore Pixar obviously believe the characters performances in the movie were excellent as they are using this film to teach others the way they animate.

Reference Examples

Here are a few examles of clips that were made for the 11 second club competition. I want my animations to have the same sort of style.

The Brief

Create a series of short animations that show how emotions can be conveyed through body language and animation.

Emotion is an important part of animation and is used all the time whether in feature films or shorts. In animation the actions of a charcter have to be believable and well performed if an animator wishes to get the desired affect from the audience. Using emotions correctly in animation can really make a differance to the quality of the animation.

The Brief:

The challenge is to create a series of short animations that explore a range of different emotions. These animations can be based on exsisting clips from films or you can create your own clips, however all these clips will have to have a clear point and be able to show a different emotion, not all the clips have to be finished with great character design and sets as the shorts are expected to show how you have improved and worked through the animation process.

Target Audience:

The purpose of creating these animations is to help animators realise the importance of emotions in animation, however an important part of creating an animation is knowing your target audience, so that you know what the audience will want to see and what you can include in your animation. The target audience for these animatons will be decided based on the clips you decide to use, if you use exsisting clips (from the 11 second club) all of their audio clips are suitable for any audience as they try to appeal to a wider audince with thier work, however if you creating your own clips then you'll have to decide who your target audience is.

Considerations:

• The shorts should be about 11 seconds long and should improve as you work towards the final short.

• Your final animation should flow smoothly and be well performed, it should be entertaining and intresting.

• The animation should focus on using body language, gestures and expressions to help convey the characters emotions. You should also consider the movement and actions of your characters when animating.

• You should look at how previous animators have used emotion in thier work and how their characters act when displaying an emotion.

• You could use exaggeration in places to help convey the emotion that you are trying to get across.

Project

For this project I have decided to use maya to create a well performed series of animations that will focus on using the characters body language, gestures and expressions to convey the characters emotions.

Emotion is used all the time in animation and using the character's body to help portray that emotion can really make a differance in a film therefore in order to get the best from my animation I will be studying the movement and actions of my characters as well as looking at previous successful attempts, to see how I could improve my animation. I will also be looking at the work of Ed Hooks and Paul Wells who have both used body language and acting to help animators realise the importance of showing an emotion.

I hope that this project will allow me to improve all my maya skills especially the modelling and animating aspects as I enjoy modelling in maya and need to improve on my animation skills. I will keep my animation short and simple and produce a good quality piece of work that can show a range of skills.

When I come to design my final characters I will design them differently so that they have thier own personality and design. The animations will be short scenes that explore different emotions as a complete story isn't needed to explore the idea of how emotions are used in animation.