justin owens

I’m just about done with finals week, I’m finishing up my perspective piece tonight (a three page comic) and then I’ll be done!

I turned in my animation project on Monday and got some nice feedback. It’s still far from finished, I unfortunately got way distracted by Lord of the Rings Online. I like where it’s going though and I’ll be finishing it up over the next week. In fact I’ll be working to have all the animations I did over this semester polished by June 30th, the deadline to submit demo reels for the Fall ‘08 Pixar Class.

 

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The premise for this animation is a businessman sits down at a park bench to eat his lunch, when he notices a group of pigeons watching him. He gets nervous and transfers to another bench, for a moment feeling safe, until he realizes there are even more birds in that area.

I have the first section blocked out, I need to add in the second bench section and then refine all the keys (as well as adding the pigeons and lunch box).

I’m just about done with the blocking stage for this animation. I still need to block in the character kicking open the door and also running off screen. Then I need to add a few sections, him scanning around, making the decision to jump the gap etc. I also need to tweak the run cycle so he has a bit more weight.

 

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Our current animation assignment is to have a character jump over something. We have complete freedom to choose what they jump over, I went with the rooftop idea. This piece is a short exercise in a more action oriented direction. I wanted to emphasize that idea, so I’m doing a sort of rooftop chase sequence.

So far I’ve just been blocking out the run cycle, this is my first time to attempt one. I spent a good 5 or so hours on the first 7 frames of animation. It took a long time for me to work out the pacing and to get a good idea how far each cycle would go (distance). I needed that information to block out the rest of the steps leading up to the ledge. I feel happy with where it’s at right now and I’ve since moved on to blocking out the rest of the animation. I took a break and did a little scene building as well.

Finishing up for the evening. I don’t feel like I have a lot to show for the day, but I think I’m on track. I was able to spend a lot of time thinking about the workflow I need to use to finish this piece and how best to tackle the rest of the animation. I have so many small parts that need to come together, that I was feeling overwhelmed.

My current plan:
Add keys to the last two sequences (going after the apple and then falling).
Adjust walk cycle (adding in some character to his walk).
Convert the rig from stepped curves to smooth.
-Adjust curves, refine timing.
Key all the food items, using as few keys as I can (I’ll do most of their animation through editing their curves).
Finish the facial expressions, hand gestures and interractions with the food.
(Add eye blink)
(Offset keys to help the character look natural)
(Camera cut or subtle animation)

If I have time, scene building and animating the door. Plus rendering.

I’m guessing the last item won’t get done before Monday, but hopefully before the 20th (deadline for submissions to the spring show).

I’m in the computer lab at school right now, once again working on my ZeroG animation. I’ve never put so much time into an animation before; I’m excited to see how it turns out, but it has been a daunting project. I’m hoping to have it finished enough to submit it to the spring show.

I have all the main animation blocked out on the character, now I’m working on blocking out the food. I’m creating reference curves for each piece of food to help get a natural looking arc as they fall and then bounce around. Once I’ve got that finished, I’ll finish blocking in the facial and hand motions. After that I’ll have some minor adjustments to make, then I should be able to convert all my curves from stepped to smooth. At that point I get to dive into the graph editor and tweak all the curves like a mad man.

I’m not sure how much I’ll get done today, but hopefully I’ll get to the point where I can convert the curves so I can adjust all those tomorrow.

I feel pretty good at the moment, I’m fairly focused though a bit tired. I’d rather be working on some personal projects today, but homework it is. By the by, it’s another wonderful day in San Francisco. The weather has been amazing the last two days. I’ll probably take a lunch break in an hour or so and sit in the park.