Second Environment's Development

Slowly the second environmet is reaching its intended definition.
Together with matt paintings I'll be using tree models to build the set. Here is the variation of models for that.

In my opinion the most of the appearance will be achieved through the use of paralax planes. As  it can be seen in this set build image they take the largest part of  it.

The house is much like in the concept with few other details as in some shots the house looks too simple (not saying it now is much more interesting)

So yes, as yesterday we had a discussion with Alex, the environments are generic and simple. In this case they serve as a playground for story. Nothing fancy really...

Next on is more of animating.

Workshop Set

The first environment seems to be ready now. Textures and lighting are set up and good to go.
 Storyboarding indicated areas which required special attention as they have most of the screen time.

Also, as planned, I've created render passes. Ambient oclussion really  brings the graphical details back into the scene.

Ambient Occlussion pass (Max distance 0.7):

 

Beauty Pass:

Combined passes:

Workshop is the place where Ivan was built. In comparison to other environments it is least colorful, bright and to a degree least uplifting. Though intentions weren't to separate this space from others entirely. It still offers coziness and wishfullness. Little models, wooden plain and symbolic cutouts busy desk suggests someone here is creating enthusiastically and lovingly.

Animation progress: the Beginning of Act 2

This week I've started animating Act 2.
The story reaches the point where bird is exploring both the world and himself. As he is discovering more and more, he also discovers the Island.

The pacing in second  act is  much slower. Also Bird's position is changing: he moves from his infancy stage to a more mature one.  To convey the point camera angles are used (  from slightly up above him to facing straight), his overall pose changes ( legs are longer now, pelvis more straight, wings looser and open and so on).

Here is the video of aniamtion sequences:



the animation when played in the set up sequence showed some issues. I went back to animationcurves and cleaned them up, also checked camera moves (especially vertigo shot).

First Act: wrap up of performance and set building

At the moment I am working on workshop environment. Almost everything is in the place for that environment.

 

A lot of atmosphere will come from texturing as modeling for this set is .. pretty basic. the workshop is crowded with little bits and bobs, nothing too major though still (and hopefully) enough of detail to keep the environment interesting for the eye to look at.

Essentially There are a round of... 15 different objects in the scene, but they are varied in the looks (scaling composition, staging ). Also, texturing will push this forward.

 

Started from the base, texturing the room. The very usefull tutorial I've got from Alan, tutorial of Gnomon workshops, had a set of tips how to enhance the looks only by painting colour, specular and bump texture passes.

Work is in progress. Here the scene has colour map only. Also the lighting is set up and in place . But it will be adjusted and animated in  each scene.

Also the last scene in first act was Ivan succeeding to overcome the first set of obstacles and he is about to find the new.





The video isn't the latest update. I changed the head shake animation and some other little details. But in all honesty I found animating the character  interact with the world especially ..complicated. This  took me two days to get  working. Gladly ( :D) in my entire animation this was the only bit where he had to lift, open locks etc. On the other hand,  soon he'll be swimming in the waters and diving in the air.. that also doesn't sound straight forward :D

First act shots were animated in the manner to appear that Bird is somewhat rushing. He is too enthused to explore the world  to become aware of himself. But through interaction with the world he  does explore himself (second act).

Letting it Loose and Inspection

Before I started animating the scenes I once again prepared the dope sheets/production sheets, as all the past animations, in particular trailer's project,  showed how they can really help to ,manage and improve the production of animation. The head is free from little bits of notes to remember, what in my case actually doesn't happen, I forget the little ideas :/
These are few examples:

Sheet 1/10

Sheet 3/10

 This is the little modeling I do when there isn't an opportunity to focus on some more serious tasks such as animating. These objects will crowed the workshop.

Also the basic representations of other mish-mash models are being prepared. I'm planing to render out a still image of these mish mash models staged in the workshop and  in basic white lambert shader and then paint in the colour and texture . This still image would then be connected with the actual 3d scene.

The still render will give me the precise perspective, shadowing and shapes to work with.

Shiball

The next in the pipeline is the scene of Ivan reacting to the window and running towards it.








I'm animating with the soundtrack uploaded to the timeline. And here also music suggested the sudden change of Ivan's body language where all of a sudden the bird forgets his confusions  and lets loose towards what he's attracted to.



the bird reaches the window and inspects the new. Again he is only assured he wants to reach outside, but has to come up with the way to overcome the first obsticle - shut window. He comes up with an idea after he sees the little lock.

These two videos were yesterday's and today's animating. I'm taking the time there. But these scenes are a great warm up before the much more complex animating still waiting ahead.

Week's progress



Developments on Animation's looks: ambient occlusion pass


Recently I spent time on blocking out the world and solving the looks of the animation. I decided to look what could be solved with parallax planes. So that I can plan out the production better,  what must be built and where I can save time.

These are the images of outside environment 'framed' using planes to suggest forests, sky, mountains.






I think these will still develop allot and the layering will be enhanced, because at the moment it does feel flat I think.

Also I'm slowly from time to time am modeling the sets, but my main focus and true work goes on to animating. After few test animations which helped to spot issues as as well as ( hopefully) better the animating,I think I have the first decent bit of animation. That is of Ivan waking up and exploring the world.




I find the tips and tricks website very useful, also thanks to Alan's and Phil's advice and suggested materials I'm beginning to find the animating easier.

Let the Penguines Walk: Setting for Animation

In this project decision was to first do the animation and only then go to detailed set building.

So I started looking at substances to prepare myself for animating. Also it really helped to go into the mindset for animating. So first of all , I want to share what I found .

Animation tips and tricks is a blog where animators answer common questions and share their own techniques of animating, whether it would be the pipeline, trickery or a "checklist". Also they've published 2 free e-books for downloading .

These resources inform my practice.

Other than that I'm now looking for video references to inform the animation scenarios.

For example,in the beginning, while the Bird is unaware of himself in his infancy stage, he walks much like a penguin. So to test animate the walk cycle I first looked at penguins walking.




and here is very first animation test. As I decided to spend some time and get acquainted with Bird's controls ( and there were some problems to solve as well...)




I spent.. well, a bout 8 hours there... I did few of the animations but didn't hesitate to start all over when it was clear that there wasn't anything substantial..

This test was one of more...something. But still.. It so clear that I need to work on animating skills... I think I'll go back to bouncing ball :D start from there perhaps. Get the weighting sorted.

Ready to Go

Finaly, after week and a half Bird's rig is solved!

I have to admit, the rig now is really comfortable to use with lots of freedom for Ivan's changing way of movement (especially concerning walk cycles)
Also, I'm happy that it was possible to have both Bird and Bird-lantern working under single rig so it is all unified and simplier for that reason. 

Ivan's rig was constructed differently from typical character's one as he has some unique constructions. For example, to make his legs work, which are much like a contracting/expanding telescope, a  piston's rig was combined withthe usual leg IK rig . In general, reach was for effective yet simple way of controlling Ivan in his animation. 

Next in the pipeline is test animating the bird to get use to controls and to solve his basic walk cycle together with getting dope sheets for animation ready.

Plan and the Block out of Ivan's World

Initially I started with rough plan of the world.

Then working in maya I made changes to scaling. Because now having story set and clear idea  it also became clear  how much of each environment is needed.

For pre-viz and animation purposes I figured to do initial environment modeling which will be developed through the entire project time simultaneously to other tasks. Again, I bothered myself enough to solve problems in concept art stage, so that when I'm building it serves as a reference.

Trees at the moment are only basic representations. To give an idea how many of them I need and what actually can be achieved with matt paintings.

As I mentioned before, I try to keep the translation from 2d to 3d as close as possible, however, particularly in Dream Island's case, there are lots of things that don't translate as successfully and fail to create the intended feel of the environment ... A Yellow sticker  there...

For now this is pretty much enough to inform animating, so apart from rigging problem there is no reason to wait with animating.

Model's Adaptation to the Story

Having the story set, it was time to go back to the Bird and make adjustments . Initial model looked more as a statue-figure. Relatively expressionless facial features, no "gadget" inside.


For the eye mechanizm idea was to keep what was  already built (ship wheel on top of the eye) and  add few layers on top.

I personally enjoy how the ship wheel detail is uncovered as the eye is moving around . It looks like the texture of iris or highlights.

(texturing still needs to be solved)

Lastly, the bird now has a lantern.

I think I'm in a very advantaged position,as the character was pretty much done during the summer. Now he is ready to be rigged.

The Outside World

This is a concept of the environment which Ivan first explores and where he becomes a sky-lantern.
In this picture there is a house, a stripe-like field, also woods with "bushes" and at the last layer of composition a mountain.

 Stylization:  

The colour palette is suited to compliment Ivan, make him stand out. Both blues and creamy colours play as a background colour for Ivan's bright greens and browns.

All the elements are slightly off-scale and appear  2d  and illustrational. I was aiming to create a very fairy-tale-like environments.  This was inspired by fairy-tale books which have pop-up illustrations when you open the page. For example:

Also, I seem to forgot to upload the texture sheets I've drawn a while ago. I use them  for concepts and in future texturing. They are created using  water colours, pastels and water pencils

The Workshop

This is Ivan's birth place. The workshop is a quite and a still place, where models seem to sleep or wait for their moment.

Cold, and dark but still enough cosy, from one respect, because I imagined that it is still a place where those models first got made, so it has to be "a good" place after all.

You should find  all sorts of stuff here . Tools, paper rolls, half built models, blueprints etc. 

Performance Animatic

It was en exercise in visualizing  entire performance of the bird and answering   questions what would he do  at each point.  Hopefully these 216 panels give a  clear  flavor of the animation heading for.

(I posted here the second animatic with a fix at 2:39)

Animation Analysis

Recently I desicded to take Alan's and Phil's advice to analyse the story and find out exactly what each scene is about. That is  what is the feel and mood of each scene. As well as what  exactly Ivan is doing.

Before going into production I'm trying now to answer these questions.

So far this is the breakdown of animation into chunks. Judgement on time intervals was made  listening more to soundtrack's suggested pacing, not as mush as animatic's  ( and I found  animatic's pacing is  off sometimes,  so that will need to be corrected. ).

Atm I'm acting and drawing a  lot. So hhopefully  I'll have a clear  performance animatic in near time.

Animation Analysis pdf

Week 2/10 : Defining Animation in Detail

This week I took some time to revisit and define the character better. In our discussions with Alan, we agreed that bird's model needs to be revisited to make adjustments for animation. Add more expressive body parts ( eyelids, eyebrows, jaw etc.) . as well as the story asks to add other details, such as a lantern in between his hips and chest, a lock and so on.

And the next follows experiments with his jaw :

Then we go underneath the surface. I've gathered Ivan's character profile. This was a note made during this weeks tutorial with Alan. To have a clear map of personality (then go and analyse the animation itself, what is being done atm) which would then drive the animation.

Here you'll find a brief description, main characteristics progression and body language.

As written in my previous posts, story is taking it's better and more defined shape. The idea here  was to present other mish-mash models. They would be presented in the opening sequence, at Ivan's 'birth place'. Suggesting this is a workshop where models like Ivan are made.

My only note is.... maybe these models shouldn't be fully built, but only half way there. Suggesting this is now Ivan's time.
But there you go, a sheet of mish-mash model thumbnails,  meet Buckaloon, Shiball and Spyrer.

As supposed to be done in preproduction, I merged myself with concepts of the animation's world.
Here is the outer environment concept start:

But I somehow didn't feel for this drawing... There were (are) problems. SO I went back to my original drawing, pixie which I'm using as an artwork-inspiration for the environments . The work also defined the colour pallet of use. It was surprising to discover the true tonality and colours withing this work, event to me, the author

So at the moment, I'm drawing a new concept of the shore. It will build on this composition:

Currently I'm solving Ivan's performance issues, and looking in to ways to enshure the animation will be in its fullest potential.
As well as I'm thinking of ways to merge 2d and 3d techniques to make the animation an experience of illustration brought to life.

Story development: solving Act 3 problems

Few days ago I got some very constructive feedback from both Aland and Phil regarding the story and how the animated short is read by the audience. Essentially, act 3 wasn't clearly resolved and failed to convey the ideas intended. As well as soundtrack's tonality contradicted imagery. To solve it decision was made to change the ending.  Plot hasn't changed at all, and  themes remain the same only now the music is transcribed better.

Animations to reference for transcription project

For my influence map here I present the animations which have what I aim to reach  in transcription project.

Main reference for Editing and the logics of character portrayal.

To start with is the animated Short Reach.

The animation is newly discovered to me, so it was surprising to find how many similar it has as well.

But the note on this example is how a character is presented: similarly to Ivan, the little robot “wakes up” and soon discovers more things about the environment (explores the surrounding, interacts with it) and finds more about himself ( for example he is tied up to a wire, he has claw-like hands etc.) . Consequently  robot’s behavior progresses : from  self-unconscious clumsy gadget to a determined, energetic dream-reacher.

Other details also added up to expressing the little robot’s experience and point of view. Such would be , when ever something is shown through his eyes it has a vignette and the sound is dimmed as if passing a glass jar.

I noticed the rhythm of the animation, that what I need to solve in my animation. There were parts where the action was played in a theatrical manner – letting all happen in one long take , camera facing straight. But it didn’t feel tedious as it was then contrasted by a well paced editing.  This was achieved by using intercuts ( for example,  pigeon looks to the robot), reaction shots  and the action itself is  presented in a variety of angles. 

Reference for Video style: Camera lens and Painterlyness:

Second in line is the animation , thanks to our group blog, I came to cross , is Nokta (Dot) By Onur Senturk.






A very enchanting piece of animation. Watching it couple of time I took a note of techniques used to create one or another effect (the following list serves as a future reference, because it is very comfortable to keep all the notes in one place)

Flashes of colour, as if created by a sudden brush stroke and lens flares, can be seen when the tempo ( the pace within the scene) is high or when a dynamic action takes place .

Dusts and particles suggest a substantial air, atmosphere. As if it has the thickness to it and is fluid ( to my mind it gives dreamy, feel , the one you get just when woken up)

The animation is vignetted and posterized , my interpretation of that was, it feels as if the air itself is animated . That adds to fluidity and painterlyness.

Short depth of field.

Distanced ( in relationship to the object) glow. Creates, so to express, furry and fuzzy feel of environment.

combination of some ofthese elements in specific scenes would help to convey the feeling of the shot and the overall animation.

Use of film language and mice-en-scene:
Lastly, Après la pluie (After the rain) an animation created by Gobelins University students,




Is just beautiful, and is my choice for simply getting back to and referencing. As in one interview Laseter named Miyazaki‘s animations as Pixar studio‘s most referenced ones when they cross a problem. I guess if the studio uses this technique, a student should also :D

Suggesting Ivan's Goals: Revisited Animatic

As previously discussed it was unclear what is the true goal and a driving point for the bird: is it to forfill his nature and become a true bird which can fly, or is it to keep on exploring new things as well as getting to discover more about yourself ? All of those things are true, but one more thing plays an important role: the Island's likenes to Ivan and the suggestion it is his true place to stay and  is his true home.

To convey this idea the Island and more particularly the nesting-box, is brought more as the main focus point.

Roughing out the Animation

I find this animatic closest to 'film' which constantly played in my head.

 At some points I've approached it in experimental ways ( especially at the very end) in order to portray personal vision. It might look to be working and at the same time the opposite.

The Animation so far seem to reach 3 minutes. I couldn't seem to make it shorter from any angle. when it was 2 minutes I failed to convey anything at all.
There are changes from original storyboards as well.

The animatic :

From Waking up to Going up

Here are the storyboards for Ivan the Bird. Hopefully there isn't a big need to write what is happening as storyboards speak clearly for themselves.

But just to keep it brief: In the opening scene we see a Model of a bird. Soon a little Match character jumps in and wakes him up. Still disy the bird is curious of the surrounding. Few seconds later he jumps out of the window as he's most attracted by the "other" environments out there. But there was something to even bigger surprise to Ivan: he discovers the magical Island and attempts by any means to reach it: he attempts to float. To his biggest disappointment instead of swimming he sinks :/

Crushed , he goes back to the shore when.. Match! Is struck by an idea. or rather he remembers what he could do for Ivan. Match jumps on his chest, opens birds belly and strikes fire inside him as Ivan is a lantern. Moments later Ivan lifts in the air and to both biggest joy reaches the Island

The style of storyboards varie as it indicates the change of worlds and feelings of environment.
I'm glad to finaly have the story drawn out as it was playing in my head almost every day  till now  :D
Hope anyone who takes a moment to analysi it leaves some feedback, as I hope to make the story clear for the audience as well .
But at the moment its time to travel a bit :D