A few nice drawn Animations

Just a few videos I found of 2D animations which really interested me. The first one is from the carphone warehouse advert. I saw this one quite a while back but I thought it would be fitting for this project, especially because it has a good use of morphing examples.



The next few I just found whilst on my research travels. These are also very interesting, the thing I think I personally like most about these next few are how creative and effective they are. Have a look for yourself.



Actually, the third one of these videos is another short from the carphone warehouse advert highlighting all the factors about how technoligy has changed over the years.



Adding a little bit of difference to the post, the fourth and final video is a stop motion of someone completing a rubix cube. I'm not too sure why but I really like it, for starters I have never finished one, not even close. Secondly I just find it differrent, and unusual.

Walking the Matchbox - revisited

So as you have seen in some of the more recent posts I have been trying to figure out the most simple but effective way of making my matchbox move throughout my animation. In my previous posts I came up with a way to move my matchbox by just using it, not adding any key features such as; eyes, mouth, feet etc. In my first attempt to create a walk cycle I thought about using the edges of the Matchbox as a replacement for the feet. However, I thought this was a great idea in making it move but when I spoke to Meg in the last session of animation, she recommended that I made it shuffle from side to side. Not only would this by more simple, but it would portray my characters personality/disability more sufficiently. The type of shuffle I mention in this post can be seen below; this is more of what I want to go for.



The best example I could find which have a similar walk cycle to what I want my matchbox to have, not quite a waddle but more like a shuffle.

Matchbooks

I have been looking a lot at matchboxes for my final character design but after the interim crit, Phil suggested that I should look at Matchbooks also. These recommendations lead me into taking a look at the possibilities of changing the style of the myopic character. Below are a few images of some matchbooks which I have found whilst researching.

The last image are just a few drawings of Matchbooks, This is just a test to see which style I will prefer to use in my final animation.

Recommended ideas/research

A good example of a piece of animation that helps show something similar to the piece I want to achieve in my final one minute animation. Like the scene below from the movie "who framed Roger rabbit", I want my animation to have the same sort of concept. Because my matchbox is a Myopic, he will be unaware of his surroundings and what his actions will bring. Feel free to have a look at the example below

Megs 2nd Week Animations

Work in Progress...

So Far...

Just want to add this post to explain were I’m at with this project. For now I have come up with a story idea which I hope once I have had my interim crit, I will be able to start properly storyboarding next week. By the end of next week I hope to have finished my final storyboards along with an Anamatic giving me three weeks to test and finish my final animation.

As I have mentioned in the past few weeks of the project, my two concepts for my one minute animation are; a matchbox and a Myopic. With these two concepts I hope to create a subtle comedy based around love.

- Story Idea – The matchbox is lonely, He suffers from Myopia but doesn’t know it. In the first of the three acts I want to introduce the character to show the audience what Myopia is all about giving them a general understanding or emotion to the character. I have been looking at some “Mister Magoo” to help with my research but I don’t want to look at it too much otherwise the final piece could lack originality. After the audience has become aware of the character I want to give him an aim.

At the end of chapter one, I want to show the matchbox aiming in on an interest. In this case, he finds himself becoming excited towards a “Belisha beacon” (Light at a zebra crossing). He finds himself becoming mesmerized by the beacon believing it to resemble a giant match. He wants to fill the emptiness which fills his box.

Now this is where I’m rather stuck, I have never been very good at rounding off a story and this is why it is taking me a while to resolve the final scene. I was originally thinking that I wanted the matchbox to try and woe the beacon but in all of his attempts become aware of it as just a beacon and not a match at all.

- For the essay, I have already tried to get an early start by researching two people who I find of interest. Firstly I have been looking a Winsor Mccay because true fully I find his work really inspirational, especially with this unit and animation in general. What he did for animation in the early 1900’s is truly amazing, something we all have him to thank for. The Second person I have been looking at Is John Lasseter. To me he is another who is amazing with what he has achieved. I really like the two of them as they are at opposite ends of the animation timeline. Hopefully my draft for this essay will be finished at the start of the Easter term freeing up time for me to complete the animation.

- Lastly but also as important as the rest of the posts content, I just want to update on the time line. So far I have research in word document folders which I’m trying to add up in order. I was thinking though if it would be possible to add a post at the end of the project with the links of my posts in order of the Animation timeline. Starting from beginning to end in the correct order. Hopefully this will make it a lot easier for people to access in the near future.

Working out the Cycle

So i have been trying to work out how I would get my matchbox to use basic movement such as walking. I have been looking through "the animators survival kit" and have looked at a way in order to construct my final animation.

I tried to take what I have lernt so far from megs lessons on Animation and try and work out a plan to make the matchbox move from point A too B. Over the weekend I was just experimenting to find a way to make this work, So far It is going okay but could be better. I hope in the next few days I will have a draft walk for the animation or at the end of the weekend by the very latest.

Just a walk cycle I quickly did just to help me work out how my matchbox will walk. I will take out the legs but they are in place at the moment to show the movement. Hopefully this practice will come in very usefull in trying to work out my animation.

Matchbox reference of positions

Just some pictures which I took, these are just a few references for my benifit to see how a matchbox looks in different positions.

I tried to capture the matchbox in different posistions to see how I could use it to benifit me in my final one minute animation.

Life Drawing for Animation Unit - Week One

work in progress...

1872 - Eadward Muybridge - animal motion

Eadward Muybridge

(1830-1904)

Eadward Muybridge was born on the 9th of April 1830 in Surrey England. Muybridge is a very important character amongst photography, in particular, Muybridge is best known for his studies of motion and motion picture projection. 

Muybridge became famous around 1868 after taking severall photographs of the Yosemite valley in Califonia, America.

(Picture believed to have been taken by Muybridge in native America)

Work in progress...

Megs Morphing Animation and Animations

For the homework we was given a task to complete for today, I had a few problems trying to compile it together but eventually got it to work. The final animation below is 32 panels combined together in Premier Pro to create the final Morphing of the objects which represent the letters in my first name.

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1831-32 - The Phenakistoscope

In 1832, a Belgian Physicist introduced a piece of equipment known as a “Phenakistoscope”. However, the Belgian, Joseph Plateau wasn't the only one to introduce this, also in the same year an Austrian named Simon Von Stampfer was believed to have invented a similar piece of equipment which he named a “Stroboscope”

The “Phenakistoscope” used two disks which were placed on the same Axis. The first of the two disks had many slot around the edge, the second and most important disk contained the drawings of the character actions which were drawn in order around the disk. If the disks were viewed through a mirror, it then was possible to see the illusion of motion through the slots on the first disk. 

The Video below is a selection of drawings which were put into a Phenakistoscope. This video shows the motion of drawings by using time and spacing for animation, two of the most important aspects to achieve a good quality final piece.

Rough Sketches of Matchbox

Just a few sketches I put together just to see what kind of positions I can put the matchbox in to show emotion. I have other images which give the matchbox more of a character. The sketches in the image below are me trying to work out the basic shape and the different styles of stance which can be used to potray a Myopic Matchbox in my final animation.

Maya - Animation Week One

So this is the first parts of the tutorials from the first week of maya in this animation project. For the leg rigging I found it fun but time consuming. I made sure that I went through the tutorials slowly and carefully which really paid off because in my final rig I haven't found any faults. For assesment I have just taken two playblast images just to show the rig and another of the rig being moved from the pelvis.

Saying all of that though, I did come across a few problems on the way but they were easilly rectified once I went back and looked at them properly. I think one of the problems I had was when trying to rotate the pirouette on the right leg. Earlier on in the rigging I accidently clicked on the right leg and keyed it instead of keying the right leg group. For a while I was a little confused but after having a proper look over the groups I worked out were I went wrong and edited it accordinaly.

3 Act, 1 Minute story idea – Myopic Matchbox

Act one – In act 1, I want to introduce the character as the clumsy short-sighted matchbox.

Act two – In act 2, I want to introduce the characters main goal which will be trying to impress a belisha beacon which he believes to be a very large match.

Act three – In act 3, I want to show the characters attempts on the beacon but bring him back down to earth by discovering that what he was chasing wasn’t a big match but the beacon.

Work in Progress...

Waking Sleeping Beauty

In the mid 1980’s, the Walt Disney studios found themselves in a bit of a rough patch. After releasing a few major flops and gaining a lot of bad publicity, the studio decided it was now or never to try and turn around their misfortune. This is a story of how animators at Walt Disney changed the times by making an amazing comeback into animation.

Something that I really want to see and would be a great help in the present and in the future when I get a chance to watch it. Just something I thought I would share with the class if they didn’t know.
This movie is directed by Don Hahn and is being released on the 23rd of March 2010.

Mister Magoo

A few days back I stayed behind after one of the lectures and asked Phil whether my research was in correlation with my research. We discussed for a little while and he gave me a really good example that I decided to follow up on.
Mister Magoo. Now I’ve heard of the cartoon character Mister Magoo but I never really knew much about him, or the show in general. So over the past few days I spent some time looking at some footage of the character and a little bit about his history.

For now though I have just added up a few videos just to show some of his characteristics.

The Two Concepts - The Myoptic

In this second introduction I will be looking at the Myopic or Myopia in general. Myopia is another term which is used for short-sightedness. Myopia is a vision problem which is the result from an excessively long growth in the eyeball, or the cornea. People usually suffer with Myopia once their growth process has been completed but will sometimes be corrected if particular treatment is applied, (Wearing glasses is a good example).

Higher degrees in Myopia can cause light to focus on the front of the retina so that close up objects are seen clearly but objects at a further distance appear to be blurry, and not clear as they would close up. However, sometimes the effect of the Myopia deteriorates over time and reaches a level that even the face becomes blurry from close up making it hard to focus.

In extreme cases, people have been known to lose sight completely. Sight loss through Myopia is the result of the eye trying to focus to hard on an object, this creates an intense amount of stress on the retina which damages or detaches itself.

Although there are specific procedures which can stabilise Myopia, the treatment only helps the symptoms but doesn’t completely cure them. One of the main and traditional procedures to take to treat the symptoms of Myopia is wearing glasses or contact lenses.

The Two Concepts - The Matchbox

My two concepts for unit 5 Animation are a Matchbox and the Myopic. In this first of two introduction posts I will be researching into my first concept, the Matchbox.

For this post I have obtained a selection of images of different types of matchboxes. I have found styles of different shapes and colors which will come in very handy when trying to define my final concepts for my character. Just have a scroll through and have a quick look just to see were i'm coming from. As this is just my introduction post into my references and research, there will be more posts in the future which still relate to this concept.

Intro to unit 5 - Animation

Ermm I think tonight I'm going to have a good look at the brief and then write myself an introduction for this unit.

Final anamatic and Pre-Viz

errmmm I was feeling good about today, had some really good feedback so i thought I would come home upload a few things and then crash for the night. But now I'm having to wait an hour or so till my pre_viz uploads lol :)

So an hour went and I was already asleep, now its nearly four in the morning and I thought lets blog lol, only problem is my anamaitc was the only thing that would load onto the good old Youtube so you'll have to bare with me while I try and fix it, thanks for being patient.

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More Warehouse Research

Just some images I found on the good old internet. These are just some references for my final scene for the Pre Viz.

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Start Of Pre Viz

Errm this post consists of some images of my warehouse/distribution centre. Just basically an update on were I am with my work.

Just the start of the warehouse, in the background you can see the racks which I will add pallets too throughout the day.

Just some more racks from a different point of view.

third image of the warehouse now I have added lights to the scene.

Below is just a final shot of what my warehousse looked like throughoiut the Pre-Viz, If you want to have a loook properly I will be uploading my Pre-viz up shortly.