Animation Design 2 Lucy Childs1 Animation Design 2 Motion Studies.

Animation Design 2 Lucy Childs 1

Animation Design 2

Motion Studies


MOTION REFERENCE PROJECT: Quadruped.

AD2 Project 2 Online Hand-in Deadline: Friday 5th March 2010. 12 noon


Quality of Motion

• This project requires realistic quality of motion


Animation Design 2 Assignments

Animation Design Project 2:Motion Studies Project -

Quadruped

REALISTIC MOTION


Sketchbook Sketchbook work forms an essential part of the course. The sketchbook is where you think ‘visually’ on paper- this is where you will develop your visual vocabulary. The process is based on: Research, Analysis and evaluation. Your sketchbook is Personal and Unique… Use it for noting and exploring any visual phenomenon that interests and intrigues you.


MOTION REFERENCE PROJECT

The aim of this project is to encourage students to gain a full and accurate understanding of the way a creature moves at a frame by frame level.


Students will produce a movement breakdown for a creature in motion

Choose From:

CAT

BEAR

DOG

APE



This project requires you to develop your observational skills.

R & D is crucial to this project.

You need to choose a creature and study it in-depth and in detail.


Using the information you gather you will produce a computer animated sequence of your chosen creature in motion.


The Computer Generated animation should be made in Maya.

20 seconds long.

This book is highly recommended:

• Goldfinger, Eliot. Animal Anatomy for Artists


The final animation should depict the motion of the animal built using approximate geometry only – e.g. adapted spheres or cubes.

Must not consist of the skeleton only.

• Basic body plan• There is a basic body plan common to most of the animals presented in

the Goldfinger book. At its most obvious, they all have a head, a body, and four limbs. Most are four-legged and stand on all fours, and are described as having front limbs and rear limbs. The front limb is anatomically equivalent to the arm and hand in humans and primates, and the rear limb to the human lower limb. The animals in this book are surprisingly similar in many ways. The head is connected to the rib cage by the neck vertebrae and the rib cage is connected to the pelvis by the lumbar vertebrae.

• The two front limbs are connected to the rib cage, and the two rear limbs are connected to the pelvis. These units move in relation to each other, establishing the stance, or pose, of an animal.

• Animals differ primarily in the shape and relative proportions of these structural units, in the position of the wrist, heel, and toe bones when standing and walking, and by the number of their toes.

Animation Design 2 Visual & Motion Studies

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Basic body plan


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Volumes

VolumesThe axes indicate the direction of the volumes of the body. The body volumes themselves are created for the most part by the muscles and bones, and the separate body volumes define the various regions of the body (head, chest, fore-arm). Individual muscles often group together with muscles of similar function to create masses that attach to, surround, and are supported by the skeleton. As an animal changes position, the body volumes are redirected, and the shapes of the individual volumes are subject to change-a muscle or group of muscles becomes thinner as it is stretched and elongated, and thicker and more massive when it shortens.The volumes of the head and chest are basically determined by the skeleton, and are covered by relatively thin to medium-thickness muscles.An important body volume not created by bone or muscle, and therefore one that is highly variable is the abdominal volume. This region contains the intestines and other soft abdominal organs held in place by a sling created by the thin abdominal muscles and their wide tendinous sheets. When the spine is flexed and the rib cage and pelvis approach one another, the abdomen shortens, becomes compressed, and bulges. When the spine is extended, straightening the body, the rib cage and pelvis move apart and the abdomen is stretched and narrowed.


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Axes


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Axes & Volumes: Bear


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Axes & Volumes: Dog


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Axes & Volumes: Lion


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Axes & Volumes: Monkey


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28


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30

Blood Vessels: Rabbit


You may use any of the following source materials

Footage from wildlife programs –eg David Attenborough’s Life of MammalsFootage you’ve shot yourself – eg at Monkey World: video or series of stillsFootage off the Web

Do make sure your footage is good enough to get the information you need.

Project Elements

• 1. Anatomical drawings showing musculature and skeleton (drawn by you.

• 2. Photographic supporting materials – pictures you’ve taken.• 3. Sketch book sample – four pages scanned from your sketch

book.• 4. A series of stills taken from the reference video showing the

movement.• 5. Sequential series of drawings of the chosen motion sequence

with captions giving a written description of the movement. • 6. A computer-generated animated sequence based on the motion

study researched. Show it side-by side and in synch with the reference footage so that they can be compared.

• 7. A Maya file containing the rigged model motion with the rig visible.

• All the project elements except number 7 should be incorporated into a power-point presentation.


ANIMATION DESIGN PROJECT 1 - MOTION REFERENCE PROJECT

• NB In order to avoid issues regarding plagiarism it is important that all sources be identified and credited in a bibliography in all pieces of work.

• A bibliography is also evidence of the amount and quality of the research carried out.


ANIMATION DESIGN PROJECT 1 - MOTION REFERENCE PROJECT

Notes:

The required length is 20 seconds.

This is an exercise in realistic motion. The CG animal should be built as simply as possible using low-resolution, approximate geometry and should not be just a skeleton. If appropriate, it can be built out of blocks or spheres.

This is not a modelling project: the most important consideration is the motion.


ANIMATION DESIGN PROJECT 1 - MOTION REFERENCE PROJECT Assessment Criteria:

Understanding of the mechanics of the chosen movement

Quality of Research

Believability of animation i.e. quality of motion, realism.

Drawing skills

Attention to detail

Clarity of explanation and presentation

No Lecture or workshops on 8th December

• Tuesday 8th December has been set aside to allow you to visit a zoo.

• E.G. London Zoo, Bristol Zoo, Marwell or Monkey World.


Monkey World


Good things to do are:

Get extreme poses of creatures.

Get sequences of pictures of creatures in action.

Get BCU’s of faces, some creatures come right up to the glass centimeters away from you. Even if you are working on animating characters which aren’t apes, ape expressions might be useful.

Get sounds.

Get reference for textures.

Make sketches, particularly quick multiple sketches of classic stances.

Have a lot of fun.


They are good for studying facial expressions.


MOTION REFERENCE PROJECT: Quadruped.

AD2 Project 2 Online Hand-in Deadline: Friday 5th March 2010. 12 noon

Animation Design 2 Lucy Childs1 Animation Design 2 Motion Studies.

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