End of Week 4

So after crunching on Friday and way too many things to do yesterday, I have my final assignment for week 4!






I ran into some issues where in the .mov, the roll on the light ball looks fine, but when I posted it to the AM website, the roll was choppy and made it look like it was sliding. I exaggerated it a bit, and it does look better overall, but it still makes me sad.

Apart from that, this week was great! I've discovered that I have the discipline to banish myself to a corner and work for 30 minutes at a time while my friends are off having fun in the rest of the room. It makes following the plot of things difficult, though. I still have no idea what's going on with Pete Campbell and Peggy.

I've also started getting the hang of planning. Before I always had a vague idea and tweaked things until they looked right, but now I'm learning what makes things work, so my planning is improving dramatically.

I will post again when I have my next assignment!

Weeks 3 and 4!

This has been a crazy past week and a half. Communists vs Zombies is entering crunch and we've started actually animating for AM!

For Week 3 we had to do excited poses and a simple bouncing ball. Without further ado...



I took Anthony's advice and gave my stick figures more fleshed out bodies, and didn't make them as up-and-down this time. He really liked them. :D

And here's the final pose:



Something got lost in the move to 3D on this one too, which I need to work on. I think I may revise it just for my own sake, even though none are necessary for my grade.

The bouncing ball made me nervous at first, mainly because of the rotation. That was the one assignment I skipped when taking 3D Animation in college. Pro-tip: The rX curve will mimic the shape of the tZ curve.

Anyway, my hard work and stress paid off and here is my no-revisions-necessary bouncing ball:




On to Week 4! This week we're doing just one animation, plus any revisions we were told to do. It's two bouncing balls, one heavy, one light. Here's my WIP:




I still have a ways to go. I think the heavy ball should be more heavy and the rotation and tZ aren't quite right on the light ball. Working within a frame limit is challenging, but I enjoy it.

In slightly different news, I also got assigned a peer buddy! She's been awesome so far, and it's really great to be meeting more people.

Now it's time for foods and possibly The Girl Who Played With Fire before my Q&A.

End of Week 2

Here we are at the end of week #2! In mundane news, I've started listening to a lot of opera and pop-country. It's kind of amazing.

I have 11.45 hours until my first real assignment is due and I think I'm solid. Here are the sketches I've done:

I originally chose pose #9 to do for my final rendered version, which came out like this:

I found I wasn't terribly fond of the silhouette, though. The nice curves and arcs of the sketch didn't really translate that well to Stu's rig. Here is attempt #2 with the third pose:

Because of Stu's big head, I couldn't get the right arm how I wanted, but the silhouette is much better that the first one.

I'll see if anyone has any comments before the deadline tomorrow!

Week 2! Moar Q&A's and Assignments!

Our assignment this week is to do quick sketches of poses we see, choose our favorite, and pose Stu as such.

I never anticipated that the hardest part for me would be finding people to draw. I really am a recluse! Home, work, chiropractor, class, home. Always doing something that precludes sketching when there are people around! I have an hour between work and class today, so I'm going to find somewhere to sit where it's not raining and somewhat populated and sketch people. If not, I'll have to rely on Korean music videos, and we all know how that ends.

Yesterday, there were two supplemental Q&A's that were really awesome. There was a Maya Over the Shoulder Q&A with Drew Adams on body mechanics and a generic AMA with Shawn Kelly. Both were really fun, and I got to see how the webcam + mic thing works. I didn't have headphones, so I muted the mic to prevent the feedback loop of ickiness and hatred. It wasn't ideal, but it was still fun.

I'll try to post some of my sketches tonight, and if not tonight, tomorrow. I need to start playing around with Stu! Still super excited. :)