Animation Bootcamp: TAR of Zandoria

[zandoriastudios]

It is great to see this activity, and the characters coming to life

[nemyax]

zandoriastudios

How about announcing little animation assignments every week? For example, "a somersault" or "a panicky scramble" or "pulling a fish out of the water". Do you think it might work?

[zandoriastudios]

OK--lets start with: PICK UP AND THROW AN AXE.

Bonus points for combining with: GET HIT IN THE HEAD WITH AN AXE!

 

Should be a great exercise in animating enforcement percentage for 'translate to' constraint, along with the motion, weight, timing

[johnl3d]

played with weapon...

 

 

spinweapon.mov

[Dpendleton77]

I forgot to put in the Cp. This

[Rodney]

Axe throw!

 

I think this animation is big enough that you'll have to click on the image to see the animation.

 

I know the assignment was "PICK UP AND THROW AN AXE." but my brain wasn't working well on putting those two actions into a sequence. What I'd probably opt for cinematically is two shots; the first picking up the ax (or simply a shot showing the character seeing it or reaching for it) and the second (after the cut) of throwing it.

[Rodney]

While typing my little excuse for not completing the assignment I figured out a decent approach to picking up the axe and then throwing it.

It'll be a good test of one of the new features too.

 

I'll see if it works.

[detbear]

Big Rodney.

 

I like where your test is going there. At the end, I would add secondary motion with about 10 or so frames.... bringing the back arm(club) around and visible.

Also, some more follow through with the body forward but with mostly from the torso up.... Throwing arm should have a bit more drop toward the ground and ease in rather than

stopping abruptly.

 

That will keep it from hitting a still wall so-to-speak.

 

I like your key poses. That has much potential. A cool action with some massage. Most people end up trying to repeat a baseball pitch. But I like the feel of bulk and strength in the keys

you have there.

[Rodney]

Thanks William,

Interestingly enough I started to lose interest after establishing the key poses so you see my laziness on display here.

I left space for an anticipatory intro and follow through at the end (the wall you speak of) as I started getting distracted by the dust effect of Tar's mace scraping along the sand (i wanted to see if I could use dust effect in A:M subtley yet effectively in the scene... didn't quite hit the mark there either but saw enough to realize it will work for me in the future if I need it.)

 

I'm rendering out an extended sequence but already want to throw it into the trash can.

I was struggling with constraints all the way.

The successful parts might make a decent storyboard.

 

I wanted to get more of a side arm swing to get some lift in the trajectory of the axe as it has quite a long way to go (as will be evidenced by the next sequence I post).

Part of the issue with inbetweening is that I know what needs to be done but I haven't the patience to do it. Especially if the shot I'm working on isn't going anywhere anyway.

 

Perhaps I should post keys until folks think it'll work and then go back and work the inbetweens?

And... how do you cure someone of being lazy?

[detbear]

You Know, It seems like those flashes of inspiration that are often unplanned remain the best pathway.

 

The worst thing is when you dread it, and then have to do it. In that case, I think the art can lose a bit of vibrance.

 

So... if it's a dread, step back and have a breather until that flash of inspiration overcomes a slothful state

[Rodney]

I'm embarrassed to post this but it's all I could salvage of my all-in-one sequence and I said I would post it.

 

The feature I was testing was 'set camera from bird's eye (view)'.

I like that!

 

This was something of a no-frills approach. The scene setup uses:

 

- The default ground plane (I wanted to see if I could make it into sanddunes)

- Three lights (a sun and bulb/point light to light Tar and an additional point light to light the hyenas)

- Not that you can tell from the posted animation but the entire sequence consists of one moving camera that moves around Tar and then zooms in on the hyenas

-- I didn't manage to get a long enough sequence at the beginning to show Tar actually picking up the axe... although it's staged for that. I figure he's got a bunch of weapons laying there at his feet and he chooses the axe

- I (obviously) didn't put much into the hyena's movement so it's mostly blocking the action out. I'd like to see a bit of reaction in the hyena leader's arms and hands that would signal that his brain stopped functioning upon impact with the axe.

- The hyena sequence reminds me a little of the look of early 1970's japanese stop motion (like those Johnny Socko - Giant Robot reruns). Perhaps the lighting also has something to do with that.

 

Edit: I should have mentioned that the herky-jerky look of the animation is due to deleting the majority of bad frames out of the sequence manually. When recompiled it resulted in a slightly better playback. Perhaps good enough to serve as a initial animatic?

 

The big contributor to failure was my inability to control the constraints I placed on the axe.

I had two constraints; one to Tar's hand and one to the hyena's leader's head. While they worked intially I had problems rotating the axe inbetween leaving Tar's hand and approaching the hyena's head. If I had it to do all over again I might constrain the axe to a Null and then animate that. Alternately, although not optimally, I might just manually place the axe.

 

As it was a simple setup, I might just start this entire sequence over from scratch.

 

But... there you have my attempt. Now it's time for someone else to post their axe throwing animation!

[zandoriastudios]

Rodney--I LOVE it!

[Rodney]

Thanks Will! I know I've got a lot of work ahead but praise from you makes me all giddy inside.

It gives me hope to keep pressing on in this crazy world of animation.

 

Hey, does that mean I get the bonus points for 'GET HIT IN THE HEAD WITH AN AXE!'?

[thekamps]

a walk test...not a lot of up and down movement with those short legs. Maybe I'll try to add a little leg stretch to add some?

walk.avi

[thekamps]

subtle ... and I can't figure out why I'm getting a double bounce in there. Only shows up in final render?

stretch.avi

[zandoriastudios]

Hey, does that mean I get the bonus points for 'GET HIT IN THE HEAD WITH AN AXE!'?

You should get extra ponus points for HIT IN THE FACE WITH AN AXE!!

[Rodney]

a walk test...not a lot of up and down movement with those short legs. Maybe I'll try to add a little leg stretch to add some?

 

 

Nice!

 

subtle ... and I can't figure out why I'm getting a double bounce in there. Only shows up in final render?

 

 

Maybe an artifact from where the looping stops and restarts?

[zandoriastudios]

Nice walk--look at the hip bone where you are bouncing. It looks like the bounce is from the foot not reaching its IK target

[Dpendleton77]

Here is a little pain.

Hyena_down_01.mov

[zandoriastudios]

Here is a test that I did with the "Saucy Rig"--Mack Chappelle rigged this Hyena with it. (Thanks Mack!) The only problem that I had was that I constrained the Axe to the IK controller for the hand, but when animating the the controller didn't stay with the hand. So I had to manually position the axe to stay in the grip of the hand (which was a pain). The finger controllers are not as easy to use as TSM, but worked as designed.

It took a lot of fiddling to position the torso, using the controller and the chest bone....

saucyrig_test.mov

[Rodney]

Will,

I didn't notice anything odd with the hand but there's something a little strange about the trajectory of that axe.

I know we aren't really critiquing these exercises but if interested I can show you what I mean via video draw over better than I can describe it here.

In short though, at the point where the axe leaves his hand the trajectory lifts about 33 degrees from it's previous movement downward to move horizontally across the screen (like a magic force or magnet is moving it in that direction.

 

At first I thought the effect might be enhanced by the camera angle but looking again I'd say it's accentuated more by where the hyena appears to be looking, more down at the ground than off screen. As he's looking at where it appears the trajectory should be when the axe doesn't go there but moves to exit screen right it makes me wonder if I've missed something.

 

Now you've got me wanting to go back and review my animation to see if my axe's trajectory is within reasonable limits.

When I was animating I kept wanting to raise the high point of the trajectory to suggest it could travel that distance.

 

 

In other news (not related to any posting here); have you ever noticed how the Eye Target moves with the pelvis of most rigs. I use to think that was okay but now not so much. I understand why it's done this way... because the Eye Target is part of the character/rig but this makes it nigh impossible to keep that target from moving when the character's pelvis rotates. The fix I found... and perhaps it's SOP for most animators(?) is to constrain the Eye Target to a Null and then place that Null where the character should be looking. That or not use the Eye Target at all which I is too bad because that target is so important to suggesting where the characters attention is at any moment. Constraining the Eye Target(Null) to another Null at the actual location may not be a full solution but it works well in most cases.

[zandoriastudios]

I think I could go back and adjust the axe rotation--the weight of the axe head should be where the rotation is centered. I should have put a null there and constrained to that. Or just keyframed it better--the head should continue the downward arc more and the handle should flip over it.

 

On the Eye Targets, you could put them at the root. Or (I do this) just keep fixing the position, LOL

[Shelton]

Rodney in my face rig I did as you suggeted. I think David does as well

[Dpendleton77]

I am going to bust out an ax test this week.

[Rodney]

Rodney in my face rig I did as you suggeted. I think David does as well

 

That's good to know.

While I'd liked the Eye Target before the whole idea of leveraging its use was brought home to me when I saw Don Bluth use the equivlalent of that Eye Target for characters during a lesson where he consistently drew an X on the sheet of paper to force a perspective (from the character's viewpoint) as to what was of interest to them at that specific moment (the moment captured in that frame/drawing). It's so easy to have a characters eyes not go where they ought to go and his emphasis on the point of interest for the character in a scene (literally and figuratively) struck a chord with me. Perhaps better yet, in CG we get a lot of eye movement automagically when they are constrained to a (intentionally placed) target/Null. Having the second Null allows for additional change via a number of other locations (at the eyes themselves (Character), at the Eye Target (Gazing Point) or at the Point of Interest (actual Point of Interest).

 

I have a theory too that one of the issue with the uncanny valley has a lot to do with the failure of a characters eyes to properly focus. There is such a subtle difference between what eyes change from near to far focus that it can be really hard to capture. This can be complicated by a vast number of variables such as our tendency to look 'through' people rather than at them (especially when nervous, avoiding engagement etc.)

 

A useful technique I've found in getting head turns and eye placement is to establish the target for the eyes first, position/orient the body (which at this point will likely have the eyes not quite in the right position. THEN turn the head until positioned appropriately. When positioned right you'll know it.

 

This doesn't automate anything but does provide a useful framework (starting point) to work from. Then just like we would work pose to pose we establish our extremes and move on to our breakdowns. The breakdowns of a necessity including those moments when a character might look away from where they were focused before... which shows they are thinking... reacting... adjusting to what they are seeing, feeling, hiding, planning on doing next. Character motivation.... Important stuff!

 

There are a couple other points about the Eye Target etc. worth noting but one is perhaps more important than most and that is that the eyes need to be easily manipulated to the right position *from the vantage point of the audience*. This is so much easier to do with that Null right up there on the screen between you and the character that it deserves some foot stomping. As we are trying to give the audience a sense that characters exist in a dimensional world it's important to remember that the character is seeing things that aren't in the audiences view. It has been said that the most important character in a story is the audience... and in the interim until someone else gets to see the show that's you!

[Dpendleton77]

Well my computer died so I might be out of commission for a bit. Hopefully I can get it fixed fast and get back on the grind.

[Mechadelphia]

Here is a test that I did with the "Saucy Rig"--Mack Chappelle rigged this Hyena with it. (Thanks Mack!) The only problem that I had was that I constrained the Axe to the IK controller for the hand, but when animating the the controller didn't stay with the hand. So I had to manually position the axe to stay in the grip of the hand (which was a pain). The finger controllers are not as easy to use as TSM, but worked as designed.

It took a lot of fiddling to position the torso, using the controller and the chest bone....

 

Hi William,

 

You're welcome!

 

You could have constrained the axe to the hand's keying assist bone or its geometry bone. The IK control is outside of the main skeletal hierachy so that is why you had to make so many tedious adjustments every time that you moved it.

 

I have a minor update for the Saucy rig coming out soon. One of the additions is an option to use the Setup Machine style body/ torso controls.

[zandoriastudios]

Mack,

Your work is really appreciated-- I don't think the perfect rig has been invented, yet. But each new rig takes us a little closer!

[zandoriastudios]

I needed to go back and update TAR with some better facial poses, so that he could carry on a conversation! I opted for a

• Wide/Narrow mouth shape
• Up/Down Lip shape for upper and lower lid
• using Jaw bone instead of Open/Close pose (because I could get more control)
• tweaked the Brow Up/down to give more range
• tweaked Brow Squeeze to give a little more range

 

This test is just running through some poses to see how they work--but It looks like he is talking or something

FACIAL-TEST.mov

 

I also played with adding some global illumination and ambient occlusion to the "look"...

[Fuchur]

really good looking stuff

[Rodney]

Nice!

 

Looks like you've been successful in adding nice range to his facials.

One of the areas of R&D I've been scraping away at slowly is the extreme poses for some facial positions that are really tough to get at without resorting to swapping out models that are already in/near that pose. The example is that inevitable 'oooo' sound where lips protrude to an exaggerated extreme. Most models aren't modeled with that level of flexibility in mind... and I should say simplicity... to allow for those extremes. If I discover anything worth sharing I'll be sure to post that. I'm not sure if Tar will ever need to go into that type of pose with his snout the way it is so you may have lucked out there. My thought with regard to Tar was that he's going to need a variety of 'yelling' poses coupled with 'anger', 'rage' and some others in that range. For those inevitable fight/actions scenes...

 

I like the illumination you've got going and you've also got some nice (dark) line quality around the edges.

One thing I've found with shadows is that the default 88% (or is it 80%) is almost always too dark for lighting conditions in my scenes. As such I tend to crank those down to about 33% and then... as if starting from scratch... consider the intensity of the light in the scene and dial the intensity up/down accordingly. The starker contrast of the shadows appearing in cases where the light (from the sun usually) is brightest.

 

One consideration, perhaps farther down the line, might be to create a head and shoulders version of Tar that is explicitly created for dialogue shots/close ups. I suppose you could even take that to another level and create another model with extreme closeup of his eyes. If approached modularly these separate models could then be incorporated into 'master models' that include everything (should the need arise... which seems unlikely). In this way you could really ramp up his expressiveness without weighting down his full figured model that needs to be seen at a different level of detail.

[zandoriastudios]

On the look, I am wanting to get towards a "chiaroscuro" with strong blacks and a single light source, to get closer to a "Frazetta" look. I wrote about it in this post: https://zandoria.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/stylizing-the-look/

 

I've got a pretty good "oooh" shape when I go to 100% narrow, and adjust the lips Up/Down--look at 1st frame (in fact, it is better to scrub this rather than play as an animation).

 

When you look at the default mouth shape on the TAR model, you wouldn't think that you could get that in a pose! But most A:M models have enough spline rings to model any shape you could want. My mistake ( and I think most people who start out modeling instead of animating) is to not take those poses far enough! In fact, I'm sure a more experienced animator would say to push them even farther to be able to hit more exaggerated shapes!

 

I don't want to have separate models, if i don't need to... I did for the Ninja leader, since I had to have a removable head! And I will for my crocodiles (since I will be chopping some limbs off, I think), So I understand How to.

 

[robcat2075]

Will, I haven't kept up with the developments here. Is there a shot from a script or story board I could do as a test?

[zandoriastudios]

We were all playing with something fairly simple: "Pick up an axe, and throw it." Bonus points for "getting hit in the head with an axe"