Rig review 002 - Fift

Another review on a Partner's Rig from Animation Mentor. Fift.

Similarly tried out 3 poses trying to experience the constraints of the rig. And get a feel what character it can fit into.

The rig controls are very similar to Deivi's. Proportion and geometry has a feel similar to Stan, with short neck, arched back, long arms and short legs. The 1st impression it gave me is that it is very squishy or blob like. So i managed to pose the limbs in a very curvy way without hard edges.

- Simple facial controls.

- No teeth and tongue limiting even more variety of expressions.

- Eyes are very small making it hard to read eye expressions.

- Finger proportion looks better.

- The shoulders are way behind the head so it is hard to position it forward without deforming weirdly.

- Availability of "Bow" control allows flexible adjustments of elbow and knee positions in polish.

- Similar FK for arms and spine, IK for legs.

Like Deivi rig, Fift has limited expressions and mouth shapes. And given that the arm cannot be easily rotated without deforming it, it is hard to give it dynamic poses. So i would say use for body mechanics practice or used as background character. 

Rig review 001 - Deivi

I am taking this opportunity of giving feedback on Partner's Rigs from Animation Mentor to also practice on posing and expose to different rigs.

1st stop is Deivi.

Played around and got 3 poses which i felt fits the character's of the look. And of course i try as far as i can push it.

I liked that it is of a different style, a very cartoony goofy character, different from other AM human rigs. But it is also a lot simple, in terms of controls and geometry compared to rigs like Jules. Here are some pointers:

-The geometry are a little out of proportions like arms, fingers and jaw, and tend to get out of shape even when pushing within anatomy limits especially the shoulders, so there is a need to cheat the pose for the camera view. 

-Arms and spine are only FK, but the Translations are not locked, which allows alteration to proportions so that they don't loose form or get better proportions. 

-Legs are only IK so doing the cross-legged sit was a challenge. 

-Facial controls are very limited so doing expressions and dialogues will not be very dynamic. 

-There are no squash and stretch for the head which makes it hard to do whole body cartoony actions.

-No hair controls even though he has long protruding hair.

-Additional hips control which are seldom used except for minor tweak in polishing.

- No bend bows control for getting better limbs shape.

- Only PV control for legs but not for arms.

Generally i think this rig is suitable for basic body mechanics practice or as a background characters with little dialogues or movement.

Maya tips 011 - Finding missing Texture

Maya will sometimes lost track of where to get the Textures, as reflected in the White Texture on the object when "Hardware Texturing" is turned on by pressing 6 on keyboard.

Before finding the Texture in Maya, make sure the all the PNG files are downloaded somewhere in the computer. In Animation Mentor case, go to AMP, the Character file, right click and "Get Dependencies".

Also download the newest version Textures by pressing "Get".

Follow these steps:

1. Go "Hypershade".

2. There will be missing picture in "Texture" tab. Left click on it.

3.  Open "Attribute Editor".

4. Click on the Folder icon.
5. Look for the Texture in the "Documents" folder.
6. The file should be the same as the one indicated here. Unless there is an updated version with a different name.
7. Click open and it is done!

If there is a Transparency issue go to http://truepassionforart.blogspot.sg/2016/01/maya-tips-010-solving-texture.html

Lesson learnt 005 - Customizing Bishop Rig with Extras

Easier way to customise Bishop Rig with what's available in Animation Mentor's AMP and AM shelf. Or i should say easier then customising Aia Rig.

So here it is:

1. Double click Bishop file in AMP to open, or click "Open in Maya..."

2. Import Extras into Maya.

3. Click Extras button in AM shelf.

4. Follow steps from 2 onwards.

5. Save the file on Desktop, name it, and drag it into the AMP Assignment folder.

Now it can be referenced into the shot for animation.

That's it!!

Lesson learnt 004 - Vanilla walk cycle

This is a simple walk cycle or vanilla walk cycle assignment from Animation Mentor.

The Vanilla Walk

A typical Vanilla walk or a relaxed walk will have a speed of 24 frames per cycle.

Concept

So, what makes a walk possible? What is a walk?

A walk is a series of controlled falls. When a body's Centre of Gravity (CG) is tilted by leaning forward, it should fall forward. While the body falls, a feet moves forward and contacts the ground, which balance the weight shift or CG. But not totally balanced (if not the walk will stop), still leaving some CG tilt, the body continues moving forward and the next feet takes over the balance. Therefore one importance note is that the body continuously tilts forward throughout the walk. The diagram below illustrates from left to right.

But of course if it is a Characteristic walk then the concept will be different. Below is an example where the legs are the driver of the CG forward instead of the body.

Breakdown

The Concept above is a basic description of a walk. For more detailed and complete analysis, lets get into the breakdowns.

Each cycle of 24 frames starts from one foot forward, transit to the other leg and back again. So each 12 frames is actually a symmetry of the other leg cycle. In this 12 frames there is a the ground Contact of one foot forward and one foot backwards, follow by a Passing of the rear foot to the front and then another ground Contact of that foot. It is further break down into in-betweens namely Extreme High and Extreme Low. Take note on the Extreme Low, the legs bend so the body actually dips in height a little. While at Extreme High, the leg is straightened and the toes are tipped and so the body raises.

This is just the beginning, as if it is not complicated enough..

If the character that is animated has both legs starting from one same point then this animation would sufficient. But if the legs starts from 2 different points, as in a hip, then there is more to go.

Weight Shift

When the body is supported by both legs, in Contact pose, the weight is distributed equally to both sides, so the hips is flat. 

During the transition to the Passing pose, where one leg is lifted up, all the weight is now shifted to the other leg and to the hips. So to balance and not fall side ways, the hips shifts sideways, bringing the CG back to the centre (may not need to be totally back to centre because soon the other leg will contact), as well as tilt up one side because of weight acting on it.

More Hips Rotation

Other then the hips raising and dropping from the side by RZ to take the weight, there are 2 more rotation axis. 1st is RY axis, where turning the hips will result in opening the legs less to get a bigger stride, saving energy. 2nd is the RX, where every time the body drops and raises in height at Extreme poses, it will also drag forward and backwards

Notice most of the above happens because locomotion in a human body is very efficient, and those movement actually saves a lot of energy.

Finish Up

Lastly its Splining and adding more in-betweens to create the kick-off for the rear feet. And also adding in some drag for the toes. 

The most tricky part is finding out when to start tipping the toes and also when to lift foot from ground. Studying reference videos will greatly help!

Below is Ghosting for the curves to track the motion.

Animation Mentor 002 - Backdated Shots 001

Here are the 3 shots i did for Animation Mentor Class 3 or AN03. The theme i chose is basketball slam dunk competition and i decided to use 3 different character rigs so that there will be more apparent characteristics difference. Each shot has a 200 frame limit.

This terms focus is on body mechanics, so no more stationary posing. Every week will be either planning, taking reference videos, thumbnails sketching, blocking, polishing or finalising the shots. Of course the closer i can follow my mentor's instructions the more i can learn, as he will be acting like animation supervisor or directer.

The biggest take away from this class, which i only really applied on the 3rd shot, is this. When the shot is finalised, i should always do a final polish pass, to push the silhouettes, in 2D point of view. It doesn't matter any more that on other views the pose seems not right. Most importantly is the shot of a fixed camera, viewed by the audience from a 2D screen. With the pushed poses, it always seems to get more appeal and is clearer.

Animation Mentor 001 - Passion Reignited

Animation Mentor is an online school that i am currently studying at. It is based in San Francisco. Not gonna introduce too much about it, all the details are here anyway: Animation Mentor

The main point is, Animation Mentor is actually my dream come true!

Firstly i am married with 2 kids now. Currently working in the Military, non art related. So finance is an issue. And because of high commitment in work, the time left for study in local school is really limited. I have tried short certificate courses but it is really hard to commit to a fixed day of the week and long hours class and additional time spend on travelling to the school. All in all, it is really hard for me to go for classes. No classes = no training = not good enough = no chance in getting into art industry.

Then one day as i was browsing through a local artist website, i stumbled upon a this List that shows multiple local schools and courses that i can apply for up to 70% Grant. One problem solved. Next i realised there is actually one online animation school on the list. And back then in early 2014 there are not many online schools that are available out there which are reliable, or at least not that i know of. Usually most Grants are only for people currently working in the art or media industry, but this one extends to students and freelancers too. After reading through the school website i realised this is PERFECT for me! It is exactly what i was looking for!

Why is the Animation Mentor perfect for me?
- An online school means i can attend it and submit assignments in the comfort of my home or anywhere with an internet connection.
- Lectures are recorded and once weekly, so i can watch it any time of the week that i am free from work.
- Assignments are given 1 week to complete, allowing me to have ample and flexible time.
- Each week there will be an online class chat, google hangout, with the mentor to ask any questions and get supplement lessons.
- And if i have no choice but to miss the online chat due to work, i still have the lectures and the assignments to learn from, so its not end of the world...
- Great reputation and backing from great animators.
- Yes it is expensive, but if i can get 70% grant then it is not anymore.

So i signed up starting Spring 2014 (April 2014). Since then i have finished 3 classes, and learnt tones!! I owe everything to Animation Mentor for my improvement and life changing experience so far. My passion for this art has raised to record high! I am volunteering as Peer Buddy in Animation Mentor to help earlier class students, joined facebook groups and made lots of friends with similar passion, set up facebook group for practicing shots during term break, volunteering in doing a short 5 sec 2D animation for a production trailer, writing a blog to record my experience and lessons learnt, writing resume, doing show reels. I never get to do all this till now!

Soon i will be coming out with my own Demo Reel and start applying for the job of my life. A job i can do as long as my mind and fingers are still working. A job that allows me to constantly improve on. A job which when i am working feels like play and doing what i like and enjoying every step of the way and never get bored! A job that will continually light my passion bright!

Thanks everyone for making this possible for me. Including all the friends who gave precious feedbacks, which propels improvement. Especially greatfull to my lovely wife for having patience and giving me support!