ST: Red Squad - Animation

[Darkwing]

Finally, that exciting moment when one begins to move into that phase known as animation! So, I figured I'd start a new thread dedicated to just the animation. I would very much like comments and criticism as animation is something I've pretty much not done before! To start off, here's the WIP of Scene 3, Shot 1. So far I've only animated Darren (on the left) and I've not animated his hand/fingers. These renders will just be animatics so that we can deal with just the animation and not have to worry about render times so much. So please, take a look, gimme the good, bad and ugly! Oh, I should mention, the goal is to be able to have about 2 minutes animated by Christmas so that we can have a trailer edited together for the new year!

 

Scene 3, Shot 1, Take 1.

Darren (Left) and Ricky (Right) are working at their console. The ship exists warp (visible on viewscreen) and Darren looks up just as the ship exits warp.

So far, only Darren has been animated save hands/fingers.

Take1.mov

[Darkwing]

Here's some more refinement of the shot. Now both characters move and their chairs swivel a little with them as well.

 

Take3.mov

 

Also, here's just a still frame that shows what's on the viewscreen:

 

 

So how am I doing so far? Please, at any time throw out some criticism or something. I'm pretty novice when it comes to animation!

[Rodney]

That looks to be a pretty straightforward shot and you've got the essential elements there.

My initial thought is to say that it needs some element to emphasize the purpose of the shot but... it's hard to judge that without seeing the bookend shots that follow after and proceed. I assume the next shot will be a close up of the view screen as the ship enters warp?

 

If you are wanting to emphasis or accent Darren just a little you might have him leaning forward a little more and then as he is looking up at the end he is also settling back into his chair a little. This is the concept in animation of Opposing Directions where one part moves in one direction while another moves in the opposing direction. It's also a form of Clarity in that it helps communicate. It also maximizes the usage of screen space (both laterally and in depth).

 

Here is something to try...

 

Think of yourself as the audience and consider where you want your attention to be.

I will assume that you want the focus to shift from the hands of these characters to the screen at the very end of this shot.

One way to do this would be to limit the movement of everything that is not important and to accentuate the movement in the area where you want the audience to look. Everything else in the shot should be pushing your attention to the most important place on screen while allowing time for the audience's attention to move there.

 

If you were to place a red dot at the location of interest what motion helps to move that red dot back and forth... perhaps up through Darren as he finishes his task and settles back into his chair and then looks up (and slightly forward and over?) to the screen.

 

This ripple effect of motion is the primary place you want to draw the attention of the audience to. In most frontal shots the audience will naturally key in on character's faces... and of the face the eyes command even more attention. In this case the audiences attention might be grabbed by flashing lights and the movement of the hands *if* something else in the scene isn't pulling attention somewhere else.

 

This is why I mention the bookend shots before and after this one.

If the shot proceeding this one is of a hand pushing a few buttons then this shot is an extension of that.

 

So a question related to this might be: What has motivated the cut from the last shot to this one?

If it is to allow Darren a moment to shine then you'll want to add some more emphasis in his movement while decreasing the acitivity of Ricky. Perhaps Ricky slides his hand forward subtly whereas Darren's hand is rapidly moving up and down... pushing buttons that light up... grabbing our attention.

 

This isn't to say that there shouldn't be other things going on in the scene... there certainly should be... but they all should support the primary action, which I assume is to show that Darren has done his job and to help transition us to the next scene.

 

Other than focus... animation-wise... I like what I am seeing here.

You could proceed with what you have now and you'd effectively communicate the idea.

 

I would say move on and get those other scenes going so this one can be seen in light of the whole sequence, then return to this one in order to drive that focus forward (progression) and clarify the character animation by accenting and exaggerating the primary action of the scene.

 

This is a really short shot so there isn't a ton of time to spotlight anything. I'd say you've got three or perhaps four beats worth of time here.

This then is the breakdown I might emphasize:

 

1. Ricky moves (his activity and all other activity drives the eye toward the lower left of the screen) - Anticipation

2. Darren does his thing (he begins to settle back into his chair just prior to his head raising toward the screen) - Overlapping Action

3. As Darren's head raises all other movement in the shot recedes - Clarity (This task is finished)

4. All attention moves to the warp screen - Motivation (On to the next scene)

 

Depending on the bookend pieces you might be able to use a subtle camera movement (In and then Up) to emphasize these beats.

You might even be able to combine the previous shot with this one which if starting at a close up of the hands and panning up would deemphasize the animated warp screen and allow it to progress into the scene.

 

Another thing you might do is place Darren just a little more in view in shot and move Ricky to the right a bit more (or perhaps we see a bit more of his shoulder). Right now, the symmetry of the shot places most of the attention right smack dab in between... which is only good if what we seen there directs attention to Darren quickly. Just a little asymmetry favoring Darren would help to guide the flow toward Darren on the left of the screen. Perhaps at the beginning of the shot Ricky could move a little from off screen right toward Darren? Just a subtle movement in that direction... don't make it noticeable... it's just a directive thing...

 

I don't think you are trying to get too artsy with this shot so I wouldn't spend a lot of time on it now.

Especially as you've already sold the main idea.

 

Looking good Chris... looking very good!

[jimd]

you have a good start now vary the timing

 

 

you have both mdls moving at the same time and speed vary that

also vary the arms and head movements ( body parts ) of both mdls vary the timing

 

a big beginner mistake is to have all the body parts moving at the same time

 

sit in your chair and mimic the move and you will see and feel you don't move like that ( no one does )

if you can film your move then you can see it

basically act it out

 

now just do one mdl at a time and slowly modify it don't be afraid to break up the action even if its very slight

the head does not have to follow the hand you know what i mean ect...

 

j

[robcat2075]

It's a bit of an usual shot.

 

I presume that what is on the screen is really the main attention-getter so maybe... maybe the animation of the characters isn't all that critical. Maybe they are like extras in a crowd, they just need to create a little motion without doing anything that presents key information.

 

the guy on the right seems unnaturally stiff. His shoulder, arm and hand all pretty much stop and start at the same time.

 

If a left hand is moving out to the left, usually the motion will start from the shoulder and the hand/arm will lag behind then catch up and arrive later.

 

The opposite, where the hand is moving back in is harder to make a rule about, but leading with the shoulder is what I will try first.

[Kamikaze]

I'm not one to critique, but I like what I see ..may I ask.....these look like low patch characters .....if so.. they look like they animate well? I may need to go low patch on my characters.....

[Darkwing]

Thanks for the input! I'll respond in more detail maybe tomorrow or something, but I'll throw a few things out here just as clarification. This shot is part of a rapid succession of shots as the Enterprise unexpectedly exits warp in an asteroid field causing some quick action and concern on the part of the crew. As for the focal point of this shot, it is indeed the viewscreen, so here's a quick preview of more or less what's happening. The warp stars are actually supposed to end as the ship exits warp, but all I have at the moment is just a continuous warp speed shot. Note this is just a quick one pass shot with no bells and whistles or post applied to it, so lighting and colours are a bit different in this render.

 

Take3A.mov

[Kamikaze]

looking Nice ! this is a cool project !

[Darkwing]

Thanks! I'm just glad to finally be starting animation. After a year and a half of pre-production, it's nice to see it start to come to fruition! And I'm gonna do some further refining of the shot today based on the suggestions previously mentioned! Also, to answer someone's question about the patches, yes. The models are fairly low patched and so far seem to move rather smoothly. They have a few weird contortions if you say clasp someone's hands behind their back, but those type of motions aren't called for in this script. I actually wrote it knowing Im gonna be a crap animator and so they're basically sitting the whole time

[Kamikaze]

How long..in minutes is the entire "short"? what are your plans? ..... Utube, or DVD etc..... I understand the animating...I cant get the hang of it...so frustrating to see it in ones minds eye and not be able to translate that to screen..

[Darkwing]

Currently the whole thing runs at about 20 pages so about 20-ish minutes in length. It is split fairly even between exteriors and interior though, so I'll only really have to deal with doing about 10 or so minutes of the animation. And it'll just go on Youtube with the previous three episodes. This will direct you to the others BTW http://www.stredsquad.com/?page_id=116

 

I actually wasn't involved so much in the other three. I did a voice over in the third one though

[Kamikaze]

Shows what I have missed when I was away from AM for a few years...thanks for the link...I'll catch up ...I love seeing these animations...

[Darkwing]

So how's this looking? Any better, worse? Also, how come in my render to wire shaded, it won't render the decals on the enterprise set after frame 1? It does on the character models and in final render it will render out the decals. I'm just kinda curious.

 

take5.mov

[Rodney]

Also, how come in my render to wire shaded, it won't render the decals on the enterprise set after frame 1? It does on the character models and in final render it will render out the decals. I'm just kinda curious.

 

Make sure you've got the decals set to render when opting for shaded wireframe.

[Darkwing]

They are which is the funny thing. Like I said, the decals are visible on the characters throughout the entire thing, and on the enterprise set for one frame, but no more after that. They work in the final render though so I guess that's what's most important.

[Darkwing]

So I came up with a plan of attack for animation. Essentially I'm going to "block" out each shot, so major movement and positions and render out animatics to give a sort of animated storyboard, and then go back and do fine tuning, lip synch, facial animation etc and then final renders. So here's 7 seconds of very rough footage. Also, I think I'm going to put the camera on the other side of the character in the final shot.

 

RoughCut1A.mov

 

And here's a couple of stills rendered out in full and with some post work done to them:

 

 

I'm still gonna do more to damage the bridge in that final shot (more sparks, flickering consoles, hanging wires and twisted metal etc) as the ship really does take a massive pounding throughout the episode!