Category: Maya

This week I went into detailed polishing of my body mechanics shot. I focused on the hand and feet movements motion arc and refined it. Then I went frame by frame and fixed the body parts that stayed still when the whole body was in movement.

Current version:

I got more feedback from Ting to polish the little details and I will work on it this week.

This week I went into polishing the body mechanics, focusing on the feet movement and the COG weight shift. Once my animation matched the reference, I added exaggeration to the kick (more upper body rotation and higher kick) and adjusted the timing in order to add character to the animation. 

I also focused on the hand movements and went beyond the reference video.

The refined realistic version:

The exaggerated final version:

I’m looking forward to getting more feedback on my work because it helps me focus on and detect the details in my own work.

with George

We got feedback on the body mechanics planning. Based on that feedback I decided on the key poses and posed them on the body rig. 

I determined the timing according to the reference in stepped mode. Then I moved onto spline mode, I will continue to refine.

with Ting

This week we got feedback on the body mechanics blocking shots. I focused on the COG and weight shifts. I refined the rotation of the hips and shoulders to avoid the jitters between the key poses. I also switched to working in IK for the arms and I received a better result. 

I’ll send the current version to get more feedback and polish the shot even more.

The current version with the adjustments:

with George

This week we started talking about body mechanics. We learned that body mechanics are about how the body moves (weight shifts, posture, and balance) and that these movements have to feel real before we can add any acting choices. The most important thing to remember is to shoot video reference to study timing, posing, and motion in real life before animating. We can get realistic motion and learn how things like hips, feet, and center of gravity work together by looking at reference video one frame at a time.

Our assignment this week was to plan our shot. I did 2d animation planning. Here’s my reference and my planning I did accordingly:

The feedback I got for my walk cycle animation was about refining the contact poses and fixing the small movements in the feet. I fixed the contact poses and polished the small details. Here’s the updated, refined version:

with Ting

This week, we had an industry talk from Ting, she gave us valuable insight into where animators fit within different animation roles. She explained us the creative process and mentioned how team structures can differ between big companies and smaller studios. We also discussed what working in the industry is really like and reflected on our own expectations.

Ting finished the session by showing us a variety of showreels, from character animation to gameplay cinematics. This gave us a better idea of the many different career paths available in the field.

Then we received feedback on our handposes, I’ll be refining my poses based on that.

with George

This week, we focused on reviewing our weight shift and walk cycle animations.

For the walk cycle assignment, we had worked in the blocking phase to check the poses and make any necessary adjustments. The feedback I got was that my animation was missing a key pose, so I redid it this week. Here’s the refined version in spline:

For the weight shift animation, George advised me to pay more attention to the arcs. To improve this, I used the motion trail tool to track the head movement, smooth out the motion, and create a cleaner line of action. Here’s the updated version:

with Ting

This week started off by talking about hands in animation. We discussed how hands can be used in order to tell the story. They can be used to cue an action, as a secondary action, to show an emotion and to reveal the personality of a character. The lecture emphasized the importance of shape and silhouette, as well as keeping them basic and readable. We also went through organic posing, gesture flow, interconnectivity, and the concept of a leading finger to help make movement feel natural.

We reviewed some of the hand poses and gave feedback based on these principles, discussing how to improve each pose. Finally, our assignment was to create 1–3 expressive hand poses that clearly convey emotion without showing the character’s face or body. I’m sharing the poses I did for this assignment with the references.

We also had the chance to get more feedback on our Franky assignments, I needed to work on the COG to show the weight shift when he’s taking a step. After refining that, I’ll focus on adjusting the timing to make it more dynamic and engaging, rather than keeping it evenly paced.

with George

This week we started off by talking about walk cycles and how you can show character by adjusting the small details of it. For next week we were assigned to do a planning and blocking phase animation of a walk cycle. For my planning, I filmed myself walking as a reference since it was really helpful last week with the weight shift assignment. I enjoy creating 2D plannings, they’re a great way to refine the overall timing and poses before moving on to the actual animating phase. Here’s my planning:

Here’s the initial version of the walk cycle (blocking phase):

After that, we moved onto the weight shift feedback. The feedback I got on my animation was to add more anticipation and to exaggerate the motion in order to better show the character’s weight. This week, I focused on improving both to make the movement feel more natural, and to emphasize the weight shift. I’m sharing the refined version here.

with Ting

This week, before the feedback, we talked about the workflow in pose to pose animation projects. It’s not a mandatory process, more like a guideline that is a very useful process to animate efficiently. We also looked at different approaches and their examples. Some seemed really useful for my own pace and workflow, while others didn’t feel as compatible. 

Then we got feedback on our Franky pose-to-pose animations. I was told to focus more on the hip movement and timing since I had done my assignment without a reference. I recorded one and adjusted the timing accordingly. Here’s the old and updated version:

We also got a new assignment on hand gestures and create a few hand poses using real-life references. Here’s the poses I did for the assignment:

I’m curious to see what critiques I’ll get, since I haven’t worked on hand poses before.

with George

This week we covered walking cycles and weight shifts and how they are one of the key aspects of animation. We also talked about the center of gravity and how to use it to make sure a pose is balanced and that the weight is distributed correctly. We then were assigned to plan and animate a weight shift for next week. For reference we shot a video of ourselves doing the weight shift. Based on that reference video I did my 2d animation planning.

For more on the weight shift subject, George told us to do a pose from our sketches that shows weight. For that assignment I’ll be using this sketch that I did:

After that we received the final feedback on the ball with tail animations. I had to make minor adjustments to the tail as it landed from the jump to make the tail follow the motion trail of the ball. Here’s the refined version of it:

with Ting

This week, we completed the final reviews for our Juicebox acting animations. Based on the feedback and suggestions, I’ll be doing some improvements in the walking cycle and I’ll be doing more polishing to make the animation smoother.

After that, we focused on the three poses we worked on last week. She explained how we’re going to use them as part of the “pose-to-pose” animation process. For this week’s assignment, she asked us to create an animation that transitions smoothly from one pose to another. To accomplish that she gave us a quick tutorial and introduced us to useful plug-ins for this assignment. My work will focus on transitioning from the angry pose to the happy pose. 

Here’s my angry pose and happy pose:

I think this is a very important exercise in order to understand clearly how the pose to pose animation works and its process. 

with George

Last week I had finalized my pendulum animation with the offset applied. This week we received the final feedback on it and George didn’t give any notes, which meant the animation was accurate and well executed, a very satisfying result for me.

Also George gave the first critiques on our ball with tail animations specifically on the tail movement. With the notes he gave me, I was able to fix it and make the motion look more natural and consistent. Here’s the final result with the improvements:

Overall, I can see a significant progress in controlling the movement and refining the details that make an animation feel alive. I am really excited for the upcoming assignments.

with Ting

This week we started by reviewing the juicebox acting blocking animations. The creativity in everyone’s animations really inspired me to push my own work further. So after getting feedback I decided to restart my acting animation to give more personality to the juiceboxes. 

During the class Ting showed us how to “polish” our blocking animations. The polishing process is all about focusing on the details and refining each frame until it feels smooth and cohesive. Right now I’m in the polishing phase to make the animation smoother. Here’s the updated version of my juicebox acting animation.

Also we reviewed and critiqued the sad/regret poses. While reviewing them we talked about using the right controllers while posing and also the difference between IK and FK. In short it is best to use IK when in contact with surfaces and to use FK when you’re doing free movement.

Ting’s overall feedback about the poses was to start with three poses and then invent a fourth that pushed our creativity and helped us think outside the box because our works were very similar. To accomplish that, for this week’s golden pose assignment we will be creating 3 poses with real life references representing different emotions. I’ll be sharing my references for this assignment.

with George

This week began with a feedback session focused mainly on our pendulum and bouncing ball animations. Based on the feedback, I made a few small adjustments to the squash and stretch, as well as the rotation. For the pendulum, I was told that my animation didn’t look very natural because I hadn’t applied the offsetting technique George mentioned last week. Once I implemented it, I realised how much of a difference it made. However, we were also reminded not to rely too heavily on this method, as it’s just a quick and convenient solution depending on the project. I’m sharing both versions below — with and without the offsetting applied.

After the feedback session, we talked about one of the 12 animation principles, anticipation. Anticipation is the preparation for an action to give the audience a clue as to what is happening next to make the action more realistic. I think it can be best explained with the example of throwing a punch. You don’t just punch someone straight from your chest — you first pull your arm back and stretch your body backward before delivering the hit. In fact, this backward stretch can even be exaggerated to emphasize the power of the punch and show how angry or intense the character is.

Finally, we received our new assignment for the week — the jumping ball with a tail. George shared a few reference videos with us, which I used while planning my animation, along with some additional references I found on my own. I feel like I’m getting better at planning my projects, thanks to the 2D animation tool I discovered.

While working on the ball with tail animation, I used the motion trail tool I discovered last week, which turned out to be very helpful. It allowed me to clearly see the path of the ball’s movement and adjust the spacing and arcs more precisely, making the overall animation smoother.

with Ting

This week, we started by reviewing some of the juicebox animations we worked on last week and gave each other feedback. Some animations had issues with timing and spacing, while others had problems with the arcs. The main objective of the juicebox assignment was to clearly communicate the weight of both juiceboxes by adjusting the timing and spacing.

Following the critiques, we discussed acting in animation.  This is best described as acting is reacting.  In animation, a character’s movements involve more than just completing actions; they are also about reacting to what is going on around them.  Every movement, pause, or emotion should feel like a response to an external force, another character, or an internal drive.

A character’s actions represent their personality, and each movement should portray that characteristics.  Between all of these reactions, the animation should appear to be breathing, complete with realistic pauses and timing.  Every movement is the consequence of deliberate decision-making, which gives the performance meaning and clarity.

For the next assignment, we had to give character to our juiceboxes. I reviewed the key elements we had discussed and then began working on the assignment. I decided on a goal: a race. The full juicebox’s goal is to land before the empty one. The scene begins with a look between the two, checking if the other one started to fall. Right after landing, the full box looks at the empty one, realizes it made it first, and then jumps to express its joy.

The objective is to land first.

The full juicebox has a competitive personality.

By looking at each other, they show that they are considering the right moment to let themselves fall in order to land first.

For exercising the golden pose, we had a sad or regretful golden pose assignment. I started off with a reference pose but then I improvised to experiment with the rig. Here is the reference I used and the pose I did: