Rain Effect

I found a rain plug in for after effects. It works quite well.

List to Do this Week

Block more Animation
Play with Render Occlusion Passes
Effects- Glow (Transfer of Powers) Rain, Skeleton (Electrocution)
More Images for the Wall
Fix Paper/ Book Updates

Animation Reference - More Looney Tunes

Run and slip Slide
This is great reference for Flash when he's running to help Flexman.

Eatin' on the Cuff or The Moth Who Came to Dinner. Looney Tunes. Warner Bros. Pictures, Burbank, California. 22 Aug 1942
Director: Robert Clampett

Reaction and Run
This is great reference for Flash. They have a nice reaction than a take off to a situation.

Polar Pals. Looney Tunes. Warner Bros. Pictures, Burbank, California. 3 June 1939
Director: Robert Clampett

Run and Slide
This is great reference for Flash when he's running to help Flexman.

What Price Porky. Looney Tunes. Warner Bros. Pictures, Burbank, California. 26 Feb 1938
Director: Robert Clampett

Animation Reference - Looney Tunes

Finger Tap
This is great reference for Flash. The impatient finger tapping

Buckaroo Bugs. Looney Tunes. Warner Bros. Pictures, Burbank, California. 26 Aug 1944
Director: Robert Clampett

Finger Tap
This is great reference for Flash. The impatient finger tapping
the Take
This is great reference for Flash, on the take, when he flips the switch
High Speed Run
This is great reference for Flash, great anticipation with a high speed run

Hare Ribbin. Looney Tunes. Warner Bros. Pictures, Burbank, California. 24 June 1944
Director: Robert Clampett

Old Age
This is great reference for Flexman, old age.
Old Age 2
This is great reference for Flexman, old age.
Old man (Bugs) Walk
This is great reference for Flexman, old age.

Old Grey Hare. Looney Tunes. Warner Bros. Pictures, Burbank, California. 28 Oct 1944
Director: Robert Clampett


Overlapping Action
This clip is just a great example of how Overlapping Action works.

The Bashful Buzzard. Looney Tunes. Warner Bros. Pictures, Burbank, California. 15 Sept 1945
Director: Robert Clampett

Updated on Animation

Well as of today, I posed out all my shots for the animation. I don't consider it blocked, but a place to start from. One month left, the pressure is starting to sink in. At least I put AM on hold, so I’ve opened up a lot of time for thesis.

Flexman Rig is done

Well, today I got the final Flexman Rig with facial controls. Here he is posed out.

Update Animation

Well I’m still tying to get very basic blocking done in my animation. I figure I’ll just keep building up each of the shots as I go along, so it’s all at least at the same level by the end. Working in the lab has helped. John introduced me to Tradigitool, a Maya plug in that helps you animate in-betweens. It was created by an Animation Mentor teacher. I bought it, even though I’m not up to that part yet.
Check out Tradigitools Website

Last Animation Mentor Class 1

Well last night was my last class of basic foundations. It was a great class. Our mentor Chris Chua gave really great critiques and was very specific in how to fix the animation. The class itself was so helpful on giving advice once I posted a public review. I’ve decided to postpone class two till the summer term, in order to focus on my Thesis.

My Progressive Reel

Update on Flexman Rig

Well Hunter gave me the skinned Flexman Model today; I’m just waiting on the blend shapes. So I can start poses him out too.

Update on Project

Well I’ve been starting to block out my animation. It’s so late in the game to start this and it’s taking so much time. Everything has been taking so much time, it seem once a week is done, I think to myself that’s all I got done within all that time. I’m going to continue blocking out my animation. I’ll work on my effects and images for the frames on the days the lab is closed since my computer at home is getting a bit slow when I’m animating with the files that contain a lot of geometry and textures.

Meeting with Mike

Industry Review Write Up

Faculty Review Write Up

Showcase Catalog Image-

Animation Thumbnails

Just some quick thumbnails to give me a starting point for animation.

Texture Sample

Here's a sample of the texture and lighting, It still needs a few tweaking.

Animation Reference - Looney Tunes

Red Riding Hoodwinked
This is great reference for Flash. It has a run and a skid, good for when Flash is coming back to save Flexman.

Red Riding Hoodwinked. Looney Tunes. Warner Bros. Pictures, Burbank, California. 29 Oct. 1955
Director: Friz Freleng

Wolf Motion Blur
This is great reference for Flash. The character moves so fast all we see is the motion blur
Wolf Run Cycle
This is great reference for Flash. It’s a really cool run cycle.

The Trial of Mr. Wolf. Looney Tunes. Warner Bros. Pictures, Burbank, California. 24 April 1941
Director: Friz Freleng

Tom Thumb
This is great reference for Flash. Tom slips on a bar of soap. IIt has a run good skid for when Flash is coming back to save Flexman.

Tom Thumb in Trouble. Looney Tunes. Warner Bros. Pictures, Burbank, California. 8 June 1940
Director: Chuck Jones

Flash Rig Done

Well Koichi sent me the Flash Rig today. I'm so grateful to him, I didn't want to have to scrap my model after spending all that time on it. Here's a simple pose, he's 100 percent better than what I had.
007

Animation Reference - Enchanted

Reference for the Character Personalities- Here is a scene that has one character acting out two different personalities. Even thought there is no dialogue, it works so well.
Personalities

Enchanted. Dir. Kevin Lima. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2007

Animation Meeting

The character animation students meet for the first time yesterday to go over each other’s work. Unfortunately I didn’t have anything for the to judge yet. However, I can see how theses weekly meeting are going to help us out.

Update

Well, I finished all my textures expect for the two characters; I’m waiting for the final rigs. Koichi is working on Flash and Hunter is working on Flexman for me. I so grateful, I’d still be rigging or have to ditch my characters and use online rigs by now. I also have three copies of my pre-thesis book all printed out. I’m still working on the images for the wall. Once I get the rigs, I will only need to animate and do the few effects: Work on Rain, Glow Effect, Motion Blur, and Electrocution. Maybe tweak things. It’s also my last week of homework from Animation Mentor; I’m going to take a term off to have more time finish my Thesis. Even though it was a lot of work doing the two schools, I feel I learned a lot about animation from AM that I can apply to my thesis.

Lighting Sample The Incrediables

Well I was going though my animation reference, and found a great lighting reference. It actually has a similar setup to my room too.

Animation Reference - Smallville - super stretch

Reference for Flexman- Pete gets the super stretch ability:

Stretch Arm
Stretch Arm for an Object
Pete saves Kara

Hero. Smallville. The WB Television Network, Los Angeles, California. 13 March 2007

Revised Thesis Statement

During all of the reviews, I was getting back on my papers, marks that suggested my thesis statement matched my project, so I revised it to have it match the characters personalities.

A Character Animated Short with an emphasis on timing and poses that showcases the conflicting personalities between a retired superhero and his sidekick dog in a cartoon style.

Title Design

Polly worked on my Title Design, and It came out great.

Animation Reference – Underdog - The Big Shrink

Reference for Flash- Fast Run, showing how the sound effects and motion blur really adds to it.
Fast Run

The Underdog Show
The Big Shrink, Part 2. The Underdog Show. NBC Network, New York, New York. 1, Dec. 1964

Animation Reference – Underdog - The Great Gold Robbery

Reference for Flash- good anticipation before a run, Nice pose:
Anticipation Run

The Underdog Show
The Great Gold Robbery, Part 3. The Underdog Show. NBC Network, New York, New York. 1, Nov. 1964


Reference for Flash- Running and Skidding when he sees Flexman getting electrocuted:
Run and Skid

The Underdog Show
The Great Gold Robbery, Part 4. The Underdog Show. NBC Network, New York, New York. 1, Nov. 1964

Animation Reference - Underdog -The Gold Bricks

Reference for Flash's Ears- good for when he hears the electrocution:
Ears Up

The Underdog Show
The Gold Bricks, Part 3. The Underdog Show. NBC Network, New York, New York. 1, Oct. 1965

Industry Review Paper

Industry Review Write Up

Horton Hears a Who

Well a few of use at NYU went to see Horton today. It was more exciting to see it since we had teachers that worked on the film. It was great. It would actually have been great reference for my project. First of all Morton, is extremely fast, much like I want Flash to be. There is one scene in the movie, where the Mayor had got a Novocain shot in his arm by mistake. That was originally how I wanted Flexman to be when he loses the elasticity in his arm. I’ve now cut that part out of the story to save time to be able to finish it.

Meeting with Cushny

Well I meet with my advisor today about the review. I’ve decided instead of cutting my story to the checkers game as the panel has suggested, I would edit my story down. I cut out part of the short taking into consideration what the Industry panelist concerns where. I feel I’m in a better state.

Industry Review

Their Advise:
Mark Harris, Blue Sky Animator
- Models more expressive
- Animate; don’t get caught up in other stuff
- Story clarity, animation clarity
- Find 1 or 2 shots in the story to animate
- Shorter film
- Great reference, ideas
- 70 frames per week –try to hit
Show characters contrast- that’s the point of your story

Gregory Piizzi, Blue Sky Animator
- choice one idea that’s simple and realistically achievable
- Use poses in layout to convey idea
- Make sure your idea is clear
- Keep your idea down to one or two shots
- Good real is about quality, not quantity

Patricia, NYU faculty
- Redefine thesis point
- Take the opportunities to shit down and animate characters traits rather than characters action

Getting Ready for the Industry Review

Well I'm still trying to block out animation with Rigs that aren't done, it doesn't work well. I can't get the Flash (auto rig) model to scale. Flexman is breaking since his rig isn’t skinned yet. I think I am going to wind up have a mixed 2D and 3D to show. Nothing is going right for me. I'm tired, stressed out and rushing to get it done, a bad combo. I just wish the review were after spring break. I don’t like the idea f getting feedback from the industry professionals when I’m not at the point to receive animation feedback.

To Do List

Things I need to do for during break after blocking out my animation for the review.
1- Block Animation
2- Fix Rigs/ Blend Shapes
3- Finish Texture
4- Work on Rain/ Glow Effect/ Motion Blur
5- Images on the wall
6- Refine Animation

Animation

Well I got my Animation Reference from filming myself or from the reference I've collected from movies. The Rigs stills need a bit of work. Flash needs to be tweaked and Hunter will finish Flexman over the break for me. I'm ready to start to block, a bit late since I need it tomorrow night. I hope to get caught up over the break; I'll have a bit more free time not working.

Update Rigging

Well, I'm still trying to fix the weights on Flash. I think I'll have to start blocking out my animation tomorrow in order to have something done for the review on Wednesday. Hunter's still working on Flexman. He said the Skelton is done, so I might just do a quickly paint weights for the review. I'm so looking forward to Spring Break to get caught up on my work.

Blendshapes

Well I worked on the blend shapes. I've never used them before, there actually quite easy. Here's a tutorial I found.
Blend Shapes
I’m still working on my Rig.

Animation Reference - Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four Richard Reed was great animation reference for Flexman.

This was good reference for how the stretch ability reacts with the actor’s expressions
Finger Stretch

This is great example of how the different body parts stretch when not always affecting the whole body
Dance Scene

This is great example of the body stretchy being pushed to it's max.
Extreme Stretch

All are these are during the fight scene when the one character has all four powers, but there is some great stretch effects.
Stretchy 1
Stretchy 2
Stretchy 3

Both of these are great examples of the transfer of power. They used a similar effect to the glow effect Nick told me to do.
Power Transfer 1
Power Transfer 2

Fantastic Four. Rise of the Silver Surfer. Dir. Tim Story. 20th Century Fox, 2007

Rigging Update

Well I meet with Hunter yesterday and the stretchy rig he’s working on is coming along great. I’m working on Flash the dog and want to have his rig done and animation blocked out by Monday. On Monday Hunter will give me the Flexman’s body rig, I hope to have his animation blocked out by Wednesday, the Industry review. Hunter said he could get the face ready for me later, which I’m fine with.
Here’s the test for the arm of Flexman:

Modeling

Finally- All my models are complete. It took so much more than I expected. But having a cartoon style made it hard to find models that I could buy. I modeled all the elements for my project. Now I’m on to texturing them after I finish rigging.

Blend shapes

The Basic Targets I need:

Lips:
Pursers
Open Jaw
Lower Lip Tight
Upper Lip Tight
Grimace
Smirk Right
Smirk Left
Sneer Right
Sneer Left

Eyes/ Eyelids:
Squint Right
Squint Left
Left Furrow
Right Furrow
Left Front ails
Right Front ails
Left Eyelid Close
Right Eyelid Close
Left Eyelid Open
Right Eyelid Open

Animation Reference - A Troll in Central Park

References for Flash, in shots were his tail isn't seen. I need to show his excitement through his ears or hands.
Ear excitement

Reference for Flash, in the shot where he's running pack to help Flexman. This scene has nice poses for the run.
Running

Reference for Flash, in the shot when Flash realized he screwed up, and turn the switch on too soon. This has good nervous facial expressions.
Facial Expressions

Reference for Flash, in the shot when he Flash realized he screwed up, the take. This scene has two nice takes.
The Takes
The Link to Victor Narones
The Take

A Troll in Central Park. Dir. Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. Don Bluth Animation, 1994