Category: Maya

with George

This week we received feedback on our bouncing ball animation we did last week. Turns out I messed up the arcs. But thanks to that I found out about a tool called Motion Trail on Maya which is really useful in order to follow along your planning for the project.

For our next assignment due next week, the pendulum, we first went over the overlap terminologies: Follow-through, Successive Breaking of Joints, Drag, Lead and Follow. 

Before I started on the planning, I looked into the Animators Survival Kit about the subject. I used some of the drawings from the book as references, as well as the reference video George shared with us.

I also discovered a 2D animation app to use for my plannings. Here’s my planning for the pendulum.

with Ting

This week, we made up for the class we couldn’t do last week as well as this week’s class. The main topic was the golden poses. We began by understanding what a golden pose consists of.  A golden pose consists of a clear line of action, a readable silhouette, balanced weight, strong appeal, as well as exaggeration and asymmetry. It should express the character’s emotion and intention in the most effective and visually engaging way.

To practice, Ting asked us to analyze the golden poses in a clip from an animation. For this assignment, I chose my favourite animation movie: Inside Out. Here’s the clip I analyzed.

I analyzed Joy’s movements frame by frame, which helped me gain a clearer understanding of the key elements that make up a golden pose.

Another assignment involved posing a body rig. I will be sharing my pose as a silhouette to see if readers can guess what action it’s performing.

We also got feedback on these assignments this week. She told me to push the pose more (exaggerate). That’s what I’ll be doing for next week’s pose. As a small hint, I’m sharing the reference I found for an angry pose.

We also covered weight in animation, along with timing and spacing, which I applied to the pendulum animation for George’s assignment. 

This was our first class of the week. After the usual introductions: the tutor, the class, and ourselves, we went back to basics: the bouncing ball. In the small tutorial, we explored the graph editor, learning how curves work, as well as timing and the fundamental principles of animation. 

We were then asked to plan our own bouncing ball animation, which required gathering references. Since I had already completed a basic version of this exercise in the past, I decided to approach it differently by choosing a tennis ball. Its unique bouncing quality demanded a different type of planning and a more specific set of references. 

Here’s the references I found and used for my planning:

I also learned that The Animator’s Survival Kit is an essential resource, so I ordered the book, and it arrived today. I’m really looking forward to exploring it.