All in all, I'm pretty proud of the finished animation and what I've achieved with the software.
One issue that the majority of students struggled with in the animation process was with the render quality.
We weren't told up front, the correct settings to use so most of us had to find our way and ended up with poor quality animations.
I asked for help with this issue from both the Module tutors and neither could suggest the most appropriate settings.
I finaly found out from a third year student one week before the deadline, that we should be using the following settings:
3dsMax
Output Size: HDTV 1980 x 1080
AVI Compressor: Cinepac by Radius.
Premiere
Available presets: HDV1080p30
Unfortunately, it didn't leave me enough time to render out to to the higher specification as the renders take an awful lot longer. (some students render to 6 hours a scene)
If I could do the whole exercise again, I'd deffinately render to the higher standard as I think it befits the work I've put in.
Another issue, mentioned elsewhere in the blog, was with combining the Look At, Morpher and Physique functions. This would of made things so much easier if all that functionality could be combined in one model.
In one scene, the polygons between the beak split when it fully opens so I would of liked to work on that a little more.
Other than that, I'm pleased with how it went and proud of myself for pressing on with finding out how to do things when the tutor wasn't around instead of just giving up.
Pat on the back for me :o)
Friday 30 April 2010
Following the storyboard..
Now the animation is complete In am plaesed that although I embelished it a bit, the original storyboard was adhered to.
Although the storyboard is only composed of 8 key frames, it does tell the rough story.
I struggled to think of a way for Dippy to 'learn' that the water level in the glass rises when a marble's dropped in, but kicking a marble in anger and it bouncing back into the water works well.
Although the storyboard is only composed of 8 key frames, it does tell the rough story.
I struggled to think of a way for Dippy to 'learn' that the water level in the glass rises when a marble's dropped in, but kicking a marble in anger and it bouncing back into the water works well.
More camera's....
In total, I used 6 different camera's. One was attached to the Dippy's head in the opening sequence which gives a nice unusual viewpoint. I had to adjust the clipping as the focal lengths were not suitable and focused beyond the bottom of the glass.
I used a Target camera in the scenes where the camera pans past Dippy too which is quite effective.
For close up shots, I used a 24mm lens to crop in nice and tightly to see Dippy's facial expressions. Experimenting with various lenses and clipping planes led to a nice variety of scenes.
I used a Target camera in the scenes where the camera pans past Dippy too which is quite effective.
For close up shots, I used a 24mm lens to crop in nice and tightly to see Dippy's facial expressions. Experimenting with various lenses and clipping planes led to a nice variety of scenes.
Even more materials....
For the wall, I've created quite a textured surface with some coarse Bump Maps. This contrasts nicely with the shiny finish of the plastic Dippy Bird and the glass.
The wooden shelves have similar maps but slipped along using the UVW mapper so they have a slightly different finish to each other.
The wooden shelves have similar maps but slipped along using the UVW mapper so they have a slightly different finish to each other.
Managing the scenes...
In total I created 31 scenes and used 27 in the final cut. The other scenes I decided to leave out as they were a little slow paced and may of lost the attention of the children watching.
To keep track of where I was, I listed down scene info eg:
Scene 1 - Dippy Scene Assembly - Frames 0-300 - Camera 1 - Selection set cam4
I made sure that I worked on seperate sections of the timeline for each scene and utilised different camera's to capture the action.
To keep track of where I was, I listed down scene info eg:
Scene 1 - Dippy Scene Assembly - Frames 0-300 - Camera 1 - Selection set cam4
I made sure that I worked on seperate sections of the timeline for each scene and utilised different camera's to capture the action.
Thursday 29 April 2010
Sound effects.....
As well as the music I wanted to add sound effects at key points like for instance when the marbles drop onto the book and table.
I was lucky enough to find a few freebies online but the majority I needed to create myself.
the Uni Library loan out MP3 recorders so I used their Roland Edirol to record various effects like Dippy's plastic feet walking on the table and the marble hitting the glass. I also recorded a few noises I made like Hmmmm and Grrrrr.
Once recorded I needed to trim down the clips to leave just what was relevant and I did that in Adobe Soundbooth.
The effects were then dropped into the corresponding position on the Premiere timeline.
So that repeated effects didn't sound like they were just copied and pasted, I altered the individual duration of the tracks and adjusted the sound levels where required too.
I'm particularly pleased with how the clip with the marble falling into the glass sounds. I recorded a marble striking the glass then overlayed the sound of a water droplet on a separate Audio Channel which is pretty effective.
I was lucky enough to find a few freebies online but the majority I needed to create myself.
the Uni Library loan out MP3 recorders so I used their Roland Edirol to record various effects like Dippy's plastic feet walking on the table and the marble hitting the glass. I also recorded a few noises I made like Hmmmm and Grrrrr.
Once recorded I needed to trim down the clips to leave just what was relevant and I did that in Adobe Soundbooth.
The effects were then dropped into the corresponding position on the Premiere timeline.
So that repeated effects didn't sound like they were just copied and pasted, I altered the individual duration of the tracks and adjusted the sound levels where required too.
I'm particularly pleased with how the clip with the marble falling into the glass sounds. I recorded a marble striking the glass then overlayed the sound of a water droplet on a separate Audio Channel which is pretty effective.
Tuesday 27 April 2010
I can't hear you! ;o) .......Adding sound...
Ok, I'm pleased with how the animation is going but I feel that when you play back the whole movie, it seems a bit flat. It really needs a little something else.
I've experimented with playing different music as I reviewed the animation and most didn't suit the scenes in terms of tempo or mood, but I finally found one that suited it quite nicely.
It's called 'You've Got A Friend In Me' by Randy Newman.
I kind of see the Dippy Bird as feeling deep down like he's a friend of the owner but has been a little neglected and quite literally left on the shelf.
The pace of the music suits the animation too as the Dippy Bird rocks serenely back and forward.
I bought the track from Amazon.com and added it to Adobe Premiere as an MP3 Sound File. A little adjustment will be needed to get the volume levels to rise and fall at appropriate moments though such as coinciding with a sound effect.
I've experimented with playing different music as I reviewed the animation and most didn't suit the scenes in terms of tempo or mood, but I finally found one that suited it quite nicely.
It's called 'You've Got A Friend In Me' by Randy Newman.
I kind of see the Dippy Bird as feeling deep down like he's a friend of the owner but has been a little neglected and quite literally left on the shelf.
The pace of the music suits the animation too as the Dippy Bird rocks serenely back and forward.
I bought the track from Amazon.com and added it to Adobe Premiere as an MP3 Sound File. A little adjustment will be needed to get the volume levels to rise and fall at appropriate moments though such as coinciding with a sound effect.
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