Final Showcase Spot

2011 Showreel updated

Here is the link to my updated showreel for 2011. If you have any questions about my work, please get in touch via my email address. gemz_design@yahoo.co.uk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdQVQa1Jme0

The Final Curtain... but it's not over till it's over...

wow... what a feeling to have submitted everything... apart from one final deadline.. The showcase launch was a real success, and have had a lot of interest in my work already! :) - having my display in the background on the showcase feature on STV news was a nice surprise, and hopefully a small taste of whats to come in the future. From now till the 3rd of June I will be based in HMC as much as I can... and getting my CV out to as many companies as I can - you never know :)

I'm going to work on updating my showreel for the final deadline, along with examples of my press pack and showcase display for the professional practice deadline.

22/05/2011 23/ 05/2011: Work on updating my showreel

24/05/2011: 25/05/2011: Written Work

26/05/2011: Compile CD for submission

27/05/2011: Sumbit all work for the deadline

28/05/2011: The end of honours year... :O

End of year presentation

The presentation went ok today.. I just hope I covered all the key points I needed to cover... I wish I didn't get so nervous.

Now it's down to the dissertation, and I'm awaiting final feedback on it. I still have the referencing and bibliography to sort and finish. I now have the computer in my spot for the showcase, and it's starting to look really nice. I'll be a lot happier when I get my boards and lettering up on thursday. I plan to submit my dissertation on thursday night/friday morning.

I think that the showcase will be a success despite some of the debates that have been going on regarding some things.

After I have a "relaxing" weekend, I'll get to work on the submission for professional practice. :)

Showcase Spot

I've spent 2 full days working on this, but I think it has been worth it. The text does show impact. I intitialy wanted to use spray paint, but after a few tests it just wasn't going to work.

I'm glad this is just about finished, as I will need all my time left to get my dissertation up to scratch.

Showcase Update

Preperations for the showcase are coming along nicely. Here is my promotional "merchandise" presspack :) - Which includes:

T-shirt
Cap
Business cards
Postcards showng project info
A mug
Mouse mat
Pen
Keyrings
Poster

Project Submission

All the work needed for the project submission is complete. :D - I've mounted my boards, and burnt the DVD's needed... so by tomorrow 4th year is almost over! :O

I've recieved feedback on my dissertation, and there are still quite a few changes to make, but at least after tomorrow I can sit down and focus on what needs to be inproved.

Tomorrow I'm going to see my spot for the showcase, as the table is now in place. I've got some areas to finish and touch up. Go to our final showreel meeting, and the showcase meeting at 1.

I'm going to start my powerpoint presentation on thursday, consider the structure of it and what I'm going to say. I know I'm going to be nervous because most people always are.. but I also want to enjoy it, as it will be the last presentation of the year! :O

Dissertation and project Update

My final dissertation draft is now complete. All I need to write up now is the extended analysis for the animation and place in my appendixes. I will email the complete dissertation and analysis to Robin tonight for feedback.

I have half of my boards for the showcase mounted, and will finish the rest on thursday, along with finishing touches to sketchbook #2. I'm going to photograph the boards for my project submission as advised by Robin, so I can also use these for the showcase. I will submit my sketchbooks, but Robin says it will be ok to pick these up from him the day before the showcase to use on launch day.

I'm also pleased with feedback I've recieved on the animation. I'm excited at the fact I got an email from Ed Hooks! I wasn't expecting a response back, and it's full of positive and constructive feedback. :)

Log Update Continued: Final 2 weeks

just so I no what I need to be doing, I have made a schedule which will cover rough times of what I'll be aiming for over the final 2 weeks before the showcase.

To Do List: Last couple of weeks:

 Saturday/Sunday: Finish final dissertation draft for feedback
 Monday: Mount up development work
 Tuesday: Finish Table and MDF board decoration
 Wednesday: Showcase Class/ Make changes to final script and print x 2
 Thursday: Finish off touching up sketchbook work/ Take photos of boards
 Friday: Project submission/ work on dissertation references
 Saturday : Sunday: End of year presentation powerpoint/Dissertation references
 Monday: Put together little prototype book
 Tuesday: End of year presentation/ make sure spot for showcase is ok
 Wednesday: Showcase meeting Class/ Make final changes to dissertation
 Thursday: Submit Dissertation: Bind Dissertation/ final prep for the showcase
Friday: Dissertation Deadline/Showcase :0

The Beginning of the End...

My meeting today with Robin was quite brief, just discussing current progress, and the dissertation. He is pleased with my progress.. and as such there wasn't a lot to talk about. I got my learning contracts signed. Agreed action points for our last meeting is to work on the dissertation, and work on mounting for the showcase. I can't get my head around the amount of time left. It takes the edge off knowing that the dissertation is only needed to be submitted through the blackboard. I am however going to bind a copy for myself, and one copy to Robin just in case the marker would like to take a look at it in hard copy.

I explained to Robin that I'm going to submit my complete draft by the end of monday, as I don't want to rush it for the sake of sending it tomorrow.

I also got on well with painting my table for the showcase. which has taken most of today to do, but I'm almost finished, and should be ready by the end of next tuesday. (I will psot a pic soon.) I think it's turned out well despite the fact I initially wanted to use spray paint.. but after a few trials it just wasn't working.

Anyway I will post my schedule for next week at the weekend...

Feedback from Sherry Adhami (Beat Bullying)

I had a call from Sherry to discuss feedback of my animation. She thinks the idea of using animation to try and allow an audience to empathise with the character is great, and the story content relates to a wide audience. She has advised me that on order for this to be suitable for TV advertising, it would need to be cut down to around 30 seconds. She still thinks the animation I have now is good, but perhaps making a shorter version of it aswell in the future. The one thing she think would enhance the story more, is providing Jaime with some sort of solution at the end, or a positive spin on the narrative. I do understand why this could add to it, but ultimatly I want this animation to be dark, and depressing for the very reason that this can be how people live their lives as the result of bullying.

The message intends to show an audience that this could happen, not 'will' happen as a result of bulliyng. Overall though Sherry had some postive feedback, which does make me happy, that the character of Jaime could be cared for. The most challenging aspect of the practical project, was to create empathy for a character which you do see sitting in a chair, there is no action as such, just emotion. I think the fact Sherry wants something good to happen to Jaime means that there is sympathy for Jaime, and Sherry agrees that the narrative content is hard hitting, and cover a lot of areas, so there is potential for character empthay.

I'm also pleased that she asked if she could contact me to talk about it, when the most I was hoping for was an emailed response. This is a good sign that all the hard work is paying off.

The Victim: Final Animation Updated

I have updated the sound levels and it's much louder than it was, so I'm happier. just means I have to cut it down for the main showreel clip, and will give this to Dave tomorrow.

I've had feedback from John, and he thinks there is not a lot more I can do to it than make the sound levels louder, which is done.. so I will now send it the beat bullying and Respect me organisations, and have a look for any more for final feedback to place in the results section of my dissertation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5azsBWhHnc

Final Animation: The Victim

This is the final animation. I'm just waiting for feedback on it now. I'm pleased with the result overall. If there is anything I can tweak in the run up to the submission then I will try my best to do so. I need to spend the next week focused on my dissertation, but will wait and see what feedback I get.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwECrb0VSvE

Advertisement Poster

I'm going to be using this poster (A3) to advertise my animation... It's simple, but works well.

Project Log Continued

Schedule for week 16:

02/05/2011: Continue with the dissertation: Chapter 0.4/ send final animation to John for feedback

03/05/2011: Dissertation Chapter 0.5/ Work on animation intro for the main showreel

04/05/2011: Showreel meeting/showcase class meeting

05/05/2011: Meeting with Keith/ paint table/meeting with Robin

06/05/2011: Work on disseration/send final draft to Robin

Showcase log Continued/ project update

So... brief update... that's us pretty much done with the promotional showreel, just need the sound added by cam and John. This should be complete by next monday (or tuesday by the latest.) We don't have a lot of up to 1 min clips for the main showreel, but we still have some time left to get this sorted out.

I will be painting my table and mdf, next thursday, and the base black base coat has already been applied. Apart from that I just have my poster, mounted development boards, and CD cover to finish, I'm wanting to try and work on this once I have the animation and dissertation sorted, or at least nearly sorted. :-D

I will be spending all of next week working on finishing my compete draft for the dissertation after I have completed the last of my animation which still should be finished by sunday night.

Final promo intro & outro

This the final intro for the promo showreel, it's very simple, but works within the colour scheme.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW7LO3smlPQ



This link shows the final outro clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXYfiy8ZS_s

Promo Showreel update

Today Dave, Chris, and myself had a meeting to discuss the promo showreel further. I now have the final font used for the logo, and the final robot poses. I have to stick to the original colour of the robot within the Intro, so will need to change that tonight. Dave wants me to take the lightning away, which I do agree is not needed now, as it wont go with the colour theme. I'm also going to change the colour of the swirls to compliment the colour theme on the robot, and plan to add a glow.

The outro is nearly complete, the fly through text works, I just need to change the font to the logo font, and create a glow on the logo at the end. We aim to finish the promo showreel complete with sound by next monday, so I need to make sure I get the intro and outro finished by tomorrow. It means that I won't beable to work on my animation tonight, but I will be pleased to be on way to finishing the promo showreel.

Project Log Continued

Schedule: Week 15:

25/04/2011: Finish rendering out old man sequence 5 and old man sequence 6

26/04/2011: Showreel meeting (12 noon)/ work on promo showreel Intro and outro (deadline - wednesday 27th)

27/04/2011: showcase class meeting/ start final animation sequence (bully)

28/04/2011: Continue work on final animation sequence

29/04/2011: Continue work on final animation sequence

30/04/2011: Finish final animation sequence/ start to render out

01/05/2011: Finish rendering out sequence/ Start to put final piece together

02/05/2011: Finsh final piece - Narration and audio

BeatBullying Charity

recent video featuring the charity on Daybreak:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cNGthLN3o1c#at=68

This charity would be a really great platform to advertise my animation once it is complete. They are commited to trying to raise awareness of what the effects of bullying can do to children and young adults. I have sent an email out explaining what my project is, and what my target market is. so hopefully I will get some feedback.. :D I'm currently waiting on a reply.

BeatBullying Website:

http://www.beatbullying.org/

Project update/ showreel update

I'm now at the stage of having 1 and a half mins ready for the animation. I think encorporating the static images and short sequences really do make an impact, and I'm so glad that I made the decision to have a mixture of the too. I will post an update of it soon. I aim to get the animation complete by the end of next week at the latest, so I can get feedback.

The one min clip for next weeks deadline is complete. I just had a few tweaks to make, and I'm quite happy with it. Here is a trial of when the animation section is introduced for the promo showreel.. I'm sent it to Dave for feedback. It's very simple, but there is something fun about it, and I think it could work well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLNLjXcQ2Js

As for the dissertation, I have research structured to insert into chapter 4.0 and 5.0, but I'm going to focus in on my animation, so I can focus my time on the dissertation after the animation is complete, and submit a complete dissertation for feedback to Robin very soon.

I'm also trying to find out how my advertisment could be targeted at the NHS, looking at if docters surgeries would perhaps even show it in their waiting rooms. this will be part of my project results, or conclusion chapter. I have emailed organisations respect me and BeatBullying.

Animation Test: Main Showreel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4frKJ_-NOxw

Things to tweak:

Camera transitions
to many cuts within the static images (apart from the toilet scene)

These are all things that can be changed quite easily, will sort this out tonight, so it will be suitable for the main showreel hand in.

Meeting with Robin

Our meeting today was going over the dissertation, and I'm going in the right direction. The character performance chapter is well on way to being complete, just a couple of references need to be taken out, and cited within the text more.

Over the next two weeks Robin wants me to send a completed draft of all chapters. I will fill in my results section after completing my animation, but the chapters I will focus on now are:

Character empathy within social advertising

The Project

Disscussion

Robin's feedback from my animation so far is to watch out for the camera transitions. I'm awaiting feedback from John on what I have so far.

The learning contracts will be signed in our next meeting, along with showing my mounted boards which will feature in the showcase.

Project Log Continued

Week 14:

18/04/11 - Meeting with Robin, and Finish old man sequence 3

19/04/11 - Start old man sequence 4/ work on dissertation chapter 4.0

20/04/11 - Showreel meeting/ hand in 3 sec clip for promo showreel/ showcase class meeting/ send John all my animation progress so far.

21/04/11 - Continue old man sequence 4/ Continue dissertation - chapter 5.0

22/04/11 - Send Robin more dissertation work/ finish old man sequence 4

23/04/11 - Start Old man sequence 5

Project & Dissertation Update

brief update -

Dissertation abstract, intro, character performance, and case study chapters are now complete and updated.

Learning contracts for both the dissertation and honours project have been updated, and Robin is happy with them.

3 second final clip is ready and rendered for the promotional showreel. I'm quite pleased with the result.

I've not had as much time to work on the animation sequences with making changes to my dissertation, but the files are all seperated into sections, and ready to go.

Wednesday: Continue with old man sequence 2

Thursday: Work on dissertation chapter 4.0 - Character empathy within social advertisements:

The History of social advertisement campaigns
Social advertisement methods
Examples of social advertisements
Emotion within anti Bullying Campaigns
Character performance within anti bullying campaigns

Friday: Finish old man sequence 2

Screenshot updates: The Bar and the jail cell (bully: old man)

All environments have been tweaked in terms of lighting etc, and the bar scene is and Jail cell are looking a lot better... these are just a couple of screen shots that show the progression. (the bar scene will be in black & white along with the other flashback images.) The anti - bullying campaign is really taking shape now, and I also spent today working on updates for the intro and character performance chapters of my dissertation.

Jaime (old man) Sequence 1

This was intended to be a test... and I found when I rendered it last night, there was issues with the depth map shadows... but I managed to fix it today, and it's looking so much better. When it comes to animating the other scenes with Jaime (old man) I shouldn't have this problem. (go to youtube link)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyni0VETKPo

Log Update Continued

Schedule: Week 13:

09/04/2011: Dissertation work: Intro, character performance, Case study chapter

10/04/2011 - 12/04/2011: Continue with animation: Jaime old man sequence 2

13/04/2011: Showreel Meeting/class

14/04/2011: Continue Animation: Jaime old man sequence 2/ send to John for feedback

15/04/2011: send dissertation updates to Robin

Blendshape Test: Henry

This is a quick test using blendshapes that were already created for another character model. It only took me 5 mins... but tests like this provide practice to consider facial elements for my characters, considering character performance, thinking about what works, and doesn't work.

Promo Showreel: Intro Test

Managed to find an image of the robot in a set pose which was intended as a placeholder until I get the 3D version... but I actualy like the style of this one.. will see what feedback I get. I think it's simple.. but effective. (go to youtube link)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62Z_OBIxlpE

Showcase Log Continued/project update

This is a test for the promo showreel outro. I don't have the final logo yet, but think that the blue glow works well. (go to youtube link)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da-SG9KYwFE

I also have the intro to finish, and the introduction to the animation category to work on. I have another week or so to get those finished, and I'm currently waiting on an image of the robot pose to test with the intro.

So now I'm going to continue work on old man sequence number 1 of my animation.
Over the weekend, I'm going to work on my dissertation. I'm aiming to have it all finished ready for feedback by the 8th of may.

Advertisement Methods: Character Empathy Vs Shock Tactics

Character empathy VS Shock tactic methods within advertisement messages:

These examples of advertisements all have empathy and (or) shock tactic elements within them. Which method works best? The conclusion that I'm coming to is that, perhaps a mixture of both methods work. Does the audience pay more attension to an advertisement that invloves a character that they care about? More often or not, the audience wants a character that they can relate to from their own experiences. I feel that advertisments make more of an impact if animators allow them to get to know the character within the short period of time.

Meeting with Robin

Today's meeting was pretty much going through my dissertation structure again. I have more changes to make, but I have a much clearer view of what to include within the main theme of the dissertation which is character empathy, and how this is generated. While this is something that I was always aware of, I now understand why there is no need to discuss anything about the actual medium, or media character performance is created within. I can always touch on this stuff, but not in any great detail. All I need to focus on, is the character performance with whatever I'm looking at. The medium, whether it be game, animation, or live action does not apply to my research. While I found this hard to process, it does mean that I will keep the main research areas focused and refined.

So I have now made changes to my dissertation structure again, and sent it to Robin for feedback. Then I intend to revise everything I have in the intro and character performance chapters, and make sure that I only include references that refer to the creation of character emapthy, and performance, and take out the stuff which is not relevent to my research.

Robin also likes the 3D animatic, and the way I intennd to create the final piece. So all I can do now is continue what I'm doing, and send anything I finish straight away for feedback to either Robin or John.

For the next meeting, I'm going to condense my pixar/tim burton case study, because there is still stuff there thats not relevent, like my discussion on emotion within visual style, narrative, and character design. There only needs to be 3 core elements, instead of 5. Character Expression, Caracter Empathy, and character performance.

Spend a little more time looking for references such as more social advertisements on youtube. (king of the road for eg - hedgehog animation about telling children to look before crossing the road)

Look at the shock tactic social advertisments, compared to subtle empathetic character performance.

Make further changes to the intro, and character performance chapters.

And finally, have at least one animation test, for the 1st old man sequence

Robin Agrees this is more than enough to keep me busy for the next couple of weeks.
Even though there is just a little over 4 weeks left till the project submission hand in, I'm quite confident about whats to be finished, and how I intend to finish my final animation. Even though it's going to be a really stressful time, I still feel excited that the end is almost in sight.

Project Log Continued

Upcoming schedule:

week 12:

3/04/2011: Work on dissertation. intro and Lit review from feedback, Finish Pixar/Tim Burton case study

04/04/2011: Meeting with Robin/ Continue work on aniamtion - old man sequence 1

05/04/2011: Showreel meeting with Chris and Dave - time (tbc)

06/04/2011: Showreel meeting 12 pm - Showcase class meeting 1pm

07/04/2011: Continue work on old man sequence

08/04/2011: Work on dissertation chapter: final case study

showcase log continued

I'm now going to be helping Dave and Chris with animating introduction sequences for each section of the showreel, Game, Animation etc, using after effects. I will also be involved in creating camera animation for the 3D robot made by Andy from the graphics team, which is almost finished (yay! :D)

We have brainstormed ideas for what could happen for each sequence.. like have a pac man like character reveal the word game, and sound waves to showcase audio, and a film strip to showcase film etc. I have a meeting with Chris and Dave next tuesday to start work on this, and help put together the promotional showreel.

Meeting with John

The meeting today with john was very useful in terms of talking about my 3D animatic. He is pleased with the progress, and it's now juat a case of aligning the audio more with the visuals. He would also like me to include another tiny bit of audio at the beginning just explaining that this is Jaime's story. I'm also going to take of "course out of the narration", when talking about the toilet scene, so it's not a case of the audience thinking.. of course what? I don't no what you mean. He agrees that I should make the black and white image scenes static, and thinks it will work really well. I just have to make sure there are not as many cuts, apart from the toilet scene. I'm also going to make sure that I make the bullys cell, look more like a cell, just by adding some bared windows, or the illusion of light.

So now I will be moving on to the actual animation, as there are no more stages left to work on. This is very scary, but very exciting.. as I can see that the end is really starting to draw near... and I still think I can pull this anti bullying campaign off. Today was the last meeting with John apart from maybe meeting up before the showcase, but he has advised me to email him all animation tests leading up to that point.

Brief Update: Dissertation

I think my abstract, intro, and character performance chapters are now complete, I made changes from the feedback Robin gave me before, but have sent it back to him anyway, just to make sure. The changes to my case studies is almost complete, and aim to start my bully & interactive media, and discussion chapter next week. The learning contracts are complete, and Robin will be signing these at some point nearer to the deadlines in case I have to make any further changes.

major lack of power... Project Update

today has been a complete washout for completing any more dissertation work due to my unexpected power cut that lasted 7 and a half hours, but it could of been worse I suppose. I did however manage to add a bit more to the bar scene this morning, and have a barman that's not a robot! the next couple of days will be continuing work on the dissertation, and starting my final piece which is really exciting. :D

Log Update Continued

This weeks schedule

week 11:

27/03/2011: Work on dissertation structure and updates to case studies

28/03/2011: Continue to work on dissertation/ send to Robin for feedback

29/03/2011: Dare to be digital meeting 11am/ Lecture with Colin 2pm

30/03/2011: Showreel meeting 11am/ Showcase prep class meeting 1pm

31/03/2011: Work on animation tests - first old man sequence

01/04/2011: Meeting with John

The Victim: 3D Animatic with Narration

I'm quite pleased with how this animatic turned out, (go to youtube link) it's nice to see progression from the original sketches and and animatic, to what I have now. I will now be focusing on some dissertation work for the next couple of days, before continuing to work on the animation.

- Please note that the robot standing behind the bar is only a placeholder.. I'm still deciding whether or not to have him actualy standing there.. or just have jaime trying to get his attension to be served after the bar man saying no more, and going to serve someone else.

Any feedback you can give me on this would be great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO-HheaBd0s

3D Animatic (No Narration)

Here is the link to my 3D animatic which replicates my final piece. (to big to place on blog) I'm going to focus in on the aimation of Jaime (old man) and the bully. (old man) The black and white flashbacks will stay as still images which will ensure I create the best quality of animation possible. I also think the images are powerful, which means I can tell the story better than having moving animation all the way through, which could result in to much going on. I have also changed the ending slightly to the original narration. I will have another version with narration posted soon... any feedback you could give me on this would be great...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW9MxqJGk28

Ping goes the Lightbulb!... *ping*

I've just had a brainwave today that may enhance the quality of my animation, and make more of an impact to the anti bullying message. I'm now nearly half way through my 3D animatic, and some of the still shots are looking nice. the good thing about them, is that they ensure the audience should be able to understand whats going on.

I've decided to keep the flashback scenes as black and white still images that tell the story, and show the emotions being felt, almost like Jaime has these images etched into his brain every day, of what the bully done to him, and his life. This means that the facial animation can be focused on Jaime (old man) and the bully (old man) I can focus on the reaction shots, posing, and staging... then going into the flashback still shot sequences... I'll be posting up my 3D animatic very soon.

I'll see what Robin and John think, but this way it will make more of an impact.. and will ensure that I have a good quality piece for the project submission, and showcase.

Brief update: It's getting there...

so... working on this 3D animatic is allowing me to get all the technical stuff finished, such as making sure the root joint in the head is connected to all features on the face, which then moves together easily while still being able to move the seperate elements.. and all the eye controlers, and finally parenting these to the rig. A few days ago, I made a small animation test for the child in black and white which looked fine, an served it's puropse... but a lot of things were going wrong with the face. I had made the blendshapes before making sure that the face was fully connected, which was my own mistake. It's a great feeling to say that this is not the case anymore! :D and after going another visit to the hospital today, I aim to get every character ready by 12am tonight... then I can make a start at finishing the 3D animatic, and piece it together on premiere with the narration and sound! :D I still have a good bit of time to focus on the animation... I WILL pull this off! - and make my prototype pocket book containing the full narration with still shots taken from the 3D animatic.

Keith has emailed me to say that my tables are finished! :D so going to see him some time tomorrow. - if all the stuff with my aunt wasn't happening.. I would say this is a great day! but things can only get better.. and you have to believe that, or you would go insane!

Log Update Continued

Upcoming schedule: week 10:

20/03/2011: Finish the learning contract for both the dissertation and practical work - send to Robin for feedback

21/03/2011: Meeting with Robin/ Begin my 3D Animatic

22/03/2011: Lecture with Colin 2pm/ Continue 3D Animatic

23/03/2011: Showreel Group meeting/Continue 3D Animatic

24/03/2011: Continue 3D Animatic

25/03/2011: Finish 3D Animatic

Meeting with John

John is pleased with my progression from the last meeting. He saw a couple of animation tests, and we spoke about camera angles. John has advised me go down the less is more route. I'm going to really slow down the camera movement. John thinks that what I need to try and think about, is to produce empathy for the character, without a great deal of character animation. This is very difficult to produce, but all the hard work will be worth it in the end...

The black and white effect animation test produced this week, really works well within the flash back scenes. I do however, have to much going on at once, and agree with John that this really is not needed. John thinks I should focus recording my final take of narration, which will help with the pacing, and facial animation.

For the next meeting, I'm going to put together a 3d animatic, which will show still shots with an overlay of the final recorded narration,(which I plan to finish tonight.) that should replicate the final animation. This will really help to move forward with the animation stage.

I also want to beable straight after our next meeting to say that I can get straight onto focusing on the final animation, considering all the research and advise so far.

Showcase/project Update:

brief update...had some bad news last night, that my aunt was taken in an ambulance to hospital. I needed to go in and see her today, she has done so much for my mum, brother, and myself... and we have found out this morning she has a collapsed lung.. she is going to have a drain inserted in her side, to try and inflate it... so will just have to wait and see what happens within the coming days...

With all this happening, I've missed this weeks showreel group meeting, and the class meeting this afternoon. I did however let Dave know that I wasn't going to get in today, so we had a chat online last night about what was going to be discussed today, and allocated each other roles. I've been assigned to animating the robot that will introduce the courses in the promotional showreel. The animation will mostly feature within the camera, but it makes sense to work on this, with my project being about facial animation... I will then edit the sequences, and slot them into the promotional showreel.

I have to say that this week has been tough... but have still managed to make a bit of progress... last night I worked on blendshapes for Jaime (child) there not finished, but getting there slowly.

3 sec Placeholder (promotional showreel)

This is my 3 seconds for use within the promotional showreel. It's very simple, and I'm very pleased with how this has turned out.

The animation will be a lot smoother once it's placed in the showreel, if you see the camera looking a bit jumpy, it doesn't do that when viewing the actual file.

This weeks Schedule:

Schedule: Week 9:

14/03/2011: Photo shoot Hive: 3pm/

15/03/2011: Prepare blendsahpes / Jaime (old Man)

16/03/2011: Showreel group meeting 10am/ Showcase Prep class 1pm

17/03/2011: Prepare blendshapes/ Jaime (child) Bully (child)

18/03/2011: Meeting with John

19/03/2011: revise aims, and activities within the learning contract to make sure they all relate to my research question.

20/03/2011: Finish 2nd draft Tim Burton/Pixars's Up case study/ send to Robin for Feedback

Screenshots: Current Practical Progress

I have been working on scaling the characters into their environments, and making sure I can actualy get the characters into the poses required for the animation.

Here is the current screenshots... I'll soon be able to start the blendshape work.

Spirit - empathetic character performance

I loved this movie, the horses have real life emotions, and yet have so much emotion within within virtual characters, all the little details, the movement, the expression, the music, the naration and the narrative all comes together to tell a story that really captivates the viewer.

Examples of empathetic character performance

What I love about these examples, is the fact that the emotion is what is focused on, and the audio assists in evoking emotional response from the viewer. These are elements I need to consider for my animation. It would be wonderful to generate this much emotion within an anti social advertisement message. Perhaps this is what lacks within other anti bullying advertisements...

Crit week feedback

So... crit week went well, my group has all made a lot of progress since pitch week, and mostly everyone in the group, including myself, now feel a lot easier giving feedback to other group members.

The thing I liked about the pitch and crit experience this year, is the fact that the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years all look to you, hoping to get as much feedback as possible.(apart from one person, who was either unconfident of showing work, or just didn't have the work to show, (I did try to give him a pep talk...) It is very comforting to know that you can give them advise, and them be greatly apreciative of it.

This has made up my mind, that I do enjoy helping people, and some point in the future would like to take up teaching 3D modeling techniques, and storytelling techniques to college or uni students.

As far a this years pitch and crit sessions go, they have all been great for feedback, and critical evauation. I have had four good presentations which evoked discussion, which was always a good sign. I still get so stressed out over them, even though I am very passionate about my project, and know what I'm suppose to be saying. However, I manage to pull it off in the end, and this weeks crit presentation was no exeption.

The tutors like my research question, they think I'm looking into a lot of structured and relevent research, and one guy thought I did an overall good presentation, and he didn't have any clue what my project was about, so that was good. (I just wish I had caught his name :( ) He has however gave me his email address, so he can get me a contact who tackled bullying advertisement last year, and is now working in the industry doing this sort of thing, so will be interested to get in touch with this guy.

The last bit of feedback I got, was to make sure that I have left enough time for animation, which I think I have. I happened to mention about my backup plan of making a mini showreel with the development, facial models etc. I think John really wants me to make sure I try and get the animation finished instead, rather than mentioning any back up plan at this stage, which is fine. I let him know, that I have every intension of finishing the animation. I just wanted to point out that I do have a back up plan in hand in case anything drastic goes wrong.

So now that I have the presentations out the way, I can concentrate on the project fully, and get ready for the end of year presentation in may... eeeeeeeek! :)

Working Progress - Bully (boy - old man)

I've made progress in terms of the Bully final heads... I decided to put the big 'mushroom' hat on his head so that the audience would be able to tell the difference between the two characters.. and also so he looks a bit different... and perhaps wears the hat thinking that it makes him look cool...

The Render basicly shows you the age progression, I think they will a lot better attached to their bodies, and within the scenes, I've also kept the style consistent within Jaime and the bully. The only things that will be changed, is the size of the eyebrows, and may sink the eyes of the old man into his head a bit more.

Meeting with Robin

Todays meeting was quite brief, but got my feedback for the dissertation lit review. There are some changes to make, but I'm heading in the right direction. I'm half way through making corrections to the Nightmare before Christmas/Pixar's UP casestudy, and have started my formats case study. Originaly the formats case study was going to be 3 seperate case studies, but agree with Robin that I need to focus in on the more relevent dissertation research which also fits in with the honours project research. I would however rather be having to condense stuff down, than have nothing to write about.

As for the practical side of things, Robin is pleased with my progress. I now have to finish off the 3 stages of the bully character, attach hair to the Jaime (man) head, and prepare my blendshapes. Robin thinks that I should focus on the blendshapes for the moment, so I can aim to be ready to start animating in the next few weeks. This is fine, because I'm quite far on with the dissertation work.

So tomorrow after I lead my crit group, I'm going to get to work on finishing the bully facial models. On wednesday I'm having to miss out on the showcase meeting because of a docters apointment, but aim to get started on the blendshape testing. Thursday will be creating my crit presentation, and continuing with the blendshape work.

Robin agree's that I should aim to at least have finished the blendshape testing for the next meeting, and finish the 2nd drafts of the case studies.

I'm just hoping that my crit presentation goes alrite, and Lynn, Gregor, and Gordon can see progress from pitch week.

Current models for Jaime - child - old man

Here is the Final head models for Jaime - Child to old man. I just need to attach hair to the middle head. I also need to finish off the age progression of the Bully character as well.



I have also scaled the old man into his scene, and will soon have the blendshapes complete, and can begin the animation stage. I will make some tests as soon as possible. I may have to fiddle about with the lighting more, but am pleased with the progress made so far.

Online Forum update

Here is the links to the current forums I'm posting on at the moment, there has been some more response, so thought I would re - post the links. I'm glad I started posting these threads up a couple of months back, as it does take more time than what you might think to get the replys that help.

AWN Forum:

http://forums.awn.com/showthread.php?p=69211&posted=1#post69211

Polycount Forum:

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78363&highlight=character+emotion

Acting in Animation Forum: (3dmd.net)

http://www.3dmd.net/forum/3d-discussion-6274.html#10749

Blender artists.org:

http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=208787&p=1786282#post1786282

Log Update Continued

Schedule for this week:

04/03/2011: Continue to prepare blendshapes

05/03/2011: Dissertation formats case study - talk about 3 formats in one case study, and make comparisons on the emotional resoponse/how the bigger vision of my idea could be implemented.

06/03/2011: Finish Lit Review chapter/ send case studies and lit review to Robin for feedback on monday

07/03/2011: Meeting with Robin - 1pm/photo shoot 2pm - The Hive

08/03/2011: Lead Crit Group/Continue blendshape work

09/03/2011: Meeting at HMC cinema 2pm/test blendshape work

10/03/2011: Make powerpoint Crit Presentation

11/03/2011: Crit Presentation

Meeting with John

Todays meeting went a lot better than I expected. John thinks that the style I have for the characters could really work in well, and he doesn't want me to get boged down on the perfect head modelling, partly because of time, but mostly because with the environment style, and the fact this will also be suitable for children and adults. This has made me feel a lot better. I will now be testing blendshapes, and fixing the small details of the eyes for both facial models. I'm really excited at the prospect of begining the animation stage. We discussed crit week, and John feels that this will be the point of letting people no where I am in terms of the practical, and dissertation work. So I'm going to try not stress out about it to much. The next few days will be focusing on dissertation work, and will discuss this with Robin on monday.

Final Bully

Final Jaime

So much happier with the way he is looking, and the mouth is more flexible. :D Even though I may need to make a few more tweaks on the edge loops, I'm getting nearer to what I wanted.

Eye Control Tutorial

Revised facial structure

I'm happy with how the models are looking, but relised that I was going to come into conflicts within the blendshapes, so, with this in mind, went back to the original base head, and made sure the mouth is constructed properly before doing anything, I will now move on to the eyes, nose and ears, and it will just be a matter of attaching these, as they have already been modeled. I thought this was going to put me behind schedule, but all it's done is made me feel better having been able to spot these mistakes, and fix them using the tecniques I have learned from the tutorials. Here is the screenshot of my new base head, which will be used for both the Jaime and the bully.

This weeks Schedule:

28/02/2011: Continue with facial models

01/03/2011: Group meeting with Robin on dissertation research/deadlines

02/03/2011: Showreel Group meeting/Showcase preperation class

03/03/2011: Finish Facial Models

04/03/2011: Meeting with John/ discuss schedule/gain feedback on progress

05/03/2011: Finish Lit Review/Start Format Case Studies

06/03/2011: Finish Format Case studies, Game, Animation, and VR/send these to Robin for feedback

07/03/2011: Meeting with Robin

Game Format Research: LA Noire

I had heard of this game a few weeks back, but was forwarded these videos from someone in my class, and these will be really useful towards my format Case Studies. It's also relevent to emotional response technology, and a new way games are portraying real world emotion into virtual characters.

Game Trailer:



Tech Demo: Technology behind performence:

Final Head for Jaime

I'm going to see what my supervisors think, but here is the final screenshots for Jaime as a boy.







All thats left to be done with him now, is to attach controlers for the eyes, and start on the blendshape work.

50's and 80's fashion and hairstyle research

To make sure the audience will no roughly what the time scales are, my advise from John was to research into iconic styles from 50 - 80's... so this is just some reference for the different hairstlyes that Jaime could have, keeping with the time differences with age.

Hairstyles:



50's style suit Jacket:



50's style Leather Jacket:



I will gather more stuff as I go along.

Another Test Render of Jaime with ongoing modelling of the eye socket, just trying to make it look less patchy now.

Bully Child Test Render

I'm finally getting closer to what I want in terms of the style, and look for the bully. I'm still working on attaching the eyes properly for Jaime, but he is looking much better with them.







Jaime with Eyes:

Further Test Renders

These are test renders, and scene tests, the face is still to be finished, and the age difference of the faces will be sorted with blendshapes... over all I'm quite happy with the look, very simple, and to the point. I'm thinking I may use a black & white or sepia colour for the flash back scenes after the animation is complete. I'm aiming to allow my self 4 full weeks of animation, so still have time to get the facial stuff finished and the paint weights sorted. I'm very happy with the rig and body... I'm just going to edit it slightly using different textures.. as it will be the overal empathy of the character I'm concerned about, and the facial animation its self.