Yr 1 Chloe Hebert Animation Journal

  Dice model is complete! Turns out UV mapping is easier than I would have thought, it just takes a lot of time. After getting everything set up with the base model, adding the texture really isn't too bad. I did have an issue the texture not showing up when I reopened my file in 3DS Max. I was able to fiddle around and get it fixed, though. It imported into SketchUp perfectly, and from there I just had to geolocate it into the Meadows. I think I'd like to try adding a bevel to the edges at some point, just to make the model a little more complex.

       I  had a little bit of a struggle with this week. I originally started a whole different animation, but really didn't like how it was turning out and I could tell it wasn't going anywhere. I repurposed some of the ideas into the splash one, which was defiantly an improvement from the original. I realized that it wasn't that long, but because I had already animated it as sort of a loop, I couldn't come up with a good way to extend it. I decided to just do another one, which actually ended u being a bit longer than the splash. Each individual animation doesn't utilize every effect that was covered in the lesson, but I did try my hand at each one. 

I think the most surprising thing about my animation work is how vastly I feel like I've developed. I have dabbled in animation before but it wasn't anything big or even based on the basics. It was mostly just me going for it and hoping it would turn out nice, but even with just the one task a week, I feel like I've improved. Practice has definitely been key to understanding animation concepts, at least for me. For the times where my process was short and strait-forward, I think it helped me get faster. For the times I had to go back and rework and take more time, I feel like I got a better understanding of what the movement should be and how to make the happen. My time for these animation tasks wasn't super consistent. Some of them only took me about a day to complete, while others took a couple. The same thing goes for the concepts, too. Some I had a very clear idea going in, so I just went for it on my own. Others I had to rework and find specific reference to comple...

  Happy Almost Halloween! I was definitely feeling the spooky vibes with this one.  Originally, I had intended to animate a character more in line with the Dermont O'Connor example used in the lecture, but I didn't like it. The movement on the fabric during the second half seemed off to me, but I couldn't quite work out why. I fiddled with it for a little bit, but wasn't satisfied. I decided to just start again with the same primary movement, just with a different sort of shape to the fabric on the secondary action. Instead of having the fabric bunched up from one point, I tried having it loose for the classic sheet ghost aesthetic. It took a little longer to animate, but I found it a lot more enjoyable. It was fun trying to figure out how the fabric might fold and how to keep it consistent with the primary action. I personally like the final ghost more, but the original did help me get a general understanding of the secondary action. Just like the bouncing balls, I sta...

My first legitimate model! Our first speed modelling challenge was to create a proper English breakfast. Unfortunately, I have not actually had one yet as I was in two week travel quarantine and my household got locked down for another two weeks, so I had to improvise. I tried to go pretty simple with some eggs and hash browns. I did get a little ambitious with the croissant. I felt that because I had been eating them for breakfast for two weeks strait I should include one.  We have done two other speed modelling challenges so far, but I do not have those files anymore. I have a nasty little habit of forgetting to save, and my 3DS Max likes to prank me by kicking me out and deleting the file. Rest in peace my book and swiss cheese models, you were gone before I could post about you. 

  The classic animation exercise: the bouncing ball. I started this week with the heavy, stiff ball. I wanted to try my hand with the ground shaking effect shown in the lecture. After I had finished the main ball, I went back in with the shadow. I don't know if I like it, though. It seems a little too inconsistent with the movement of the ball. I might have another go at it at some point. I'm pretty pleased with the rest of the animation. Next up was the small, bouncy ball. I don't have much to say on this one, I quite like how it turned out. My animation process was the same for both of these. I started by sketching the ground line and the line of action. Then I drew the frames for the top of the arc, where the ball would be a perfect circle. Next I drew the impact at the bottom of the arc, where the ball would be the most squished. From there it was just filling in the frames in-between until a got the motion I liked.  I tried to pay special attention to the ease in and e...

 This weeks task was another animated loop, specifically to play around with the high contrast black and white and how to time in within your loop. High contrast always makes me think of dramatic lighting, especially how it was used in classic film noir style of the 40s and 50s. I thought it would be quite fun and fitting to try and emulate that in this weeks loop. To start, I sketched up this little keyframe to work out the exact lighting I was going for. From there, it was pretty simple. I just traced over that drawing to create the slight wobble effect on the body and face, and then just traced the outline for the frames where the light is shut off.  The hand was a little trickier. I decided to go with just the shadow to imply that the hand was there rather than drawing out the hand completely. I felt that this fit the style I was going for very well, and it was a lot easier and faster to animate.  This was drawn on the iPad Pro in ProCreate, and consists of 12 frames....