Category: George Session

Autodesk Maya Today, George, took us on a deep dive into the fascinating world of creature animation. Specifically, we tackled the challenge of animating quadruped walks.He started by reminding us of the key differences: contacts, ups, downs, and passings. With four legs, that means double the number of contact points with the ground, double the potential for wobbly movements, and double the work! George emphasised the importance of understanding what’s moving and carrying the weight. It’s not just about animating legs in a repetitive cycle. We need to visualise the underlying musculature, the weight transfer, and how each movement affects the entire body. For a smooth and realistic walk cycle, we have to aim for 32 frames. This …

WEEK 20 – Creature Animation Read more »

As this term draws closer, I’m proud to present my final showreel! This collection represents not just the culmination of my individual efforts, but also the journey of collaboration I’ve undertaken with both George and Serra. Remember those brainstorming sessions last week, George, where we were building the foundation with basic models and storyboards? The showreel is a testament to how my initial ideas evolved through the weeks and with George’s insightful feedback on Mise en scene and also Character animations. It helped us refine the overall composition of my collaborative projects, and you’ll see how seamlessly they come together …

WEEK 19 – Showreel Read more »

Autodesk Maya After the blocking, it’s time to move on to what is known as the polishing/detail pass. This pass takes care of anything remaining that hasn’t received as much treatment as the rest like the fingers, or the face if it is a really far long shot where it’s not so visible.Also, we have to make sure to switch from IK to IF. My animation was stuck in blocking mode, nowhere near ready for the dreaded spline stage. that’s because of the artefact handing, i was late for that and i couldn’t finish my animation.

Autodesk Maya On Thursday George started talking about putting our animation in spline. Apparently, it all boils down to communication (or lack thereof) between us and the software (Maya). Splines are great for creating smooth curves, but they rely heavily on the info we give them – those keyframes. If your blocking stage wasn’t detailed enough, the software struggles to capture the subtle nuances and energy you originally had. Last week George introduced us to the concept of blocking plus. It’s basically taking your blocking stage a step further by adding more in-between poses and breakdowns. in this case, we’re essentially providing more information about the movement, allowing the …

WEEK 17 – Acting Shot in Spline Read more »

Autodesk Maya Blocking Plus It’s an animation technique that builds upon the initial blocking stage, keeping the energy alive throughout the process. Blocking work is the foundation of our animation. It’s where we establish the key poses of our character’s movement, focusing on the overall flow and timing of the shot. Blocking plus goes beyond the basic blocking stage. Instead of jumping straight to splines (which can make movements stiff), we have to refine our animation by adding step-keyed poses in between the keyframes. These additional poses help solidify the timing and weight of the movement. George also gave us some useful advice like avoiding putting everything …

WEEK 16 – Acting Shot in Blocking + Read more »

Autodesk Maya George stressed the importance of blocking everything out before jumping into spline. It’s like building a house – you wouldn’t just start laying bricks without a foundation, right? Blocking is your foundation. It’s where we can establish the key poses of our animation – the storytelling beats that form the skeleton of your shot. Here’s the cool thing: these key poses can be created from the perspective view, not just the camera view. This ensures your animation looks good from any angle, avoiding those awkward-looking characters later on. George showed us a useful tip for speeding up blocking, especially when our animation involves similar poses. Simply copy existing poses and make slight adjustments to their …

WEEK 15 – Acting Shot in Blocking Read more »

Autodesk Maya In the first lesson, George explained how to achieve good dialogue animation. He mentioned that phrasing highlights important elements using connected speech. He broke down the components of sound, which include the tongue, jaw, lips, teeth, and vocal cords. And he also said that when blocking out your animation, it’s crucial to focus on the sounds being produced rather than the words themselves. George also explained the concept of a phoneme and its importance saying that a phoneme is the smallest unit of speech that distinguishes one word (or word element) from another, such as the “p” in …

WEEK 14 – Animating Dialogue Read more »

Autodesk Maya After the blocking, it’s time to move on to what is known as the polishing/detail pass. This pass takes care of anything remaining that hasn’t received as much treatment as the rest like the fingers, or the face if it is a really far long shot where it’s not so visible.Also, we have to make sure to switch from IK to IF.

Autodesk Maya On Thursday George started talking about putting our animation in spline. Apparently, it all boils down to communication (or lack thereof) between us and the software (Maya). Splines are great for creating smooth curves, but they rely heavily on the info we give them – those keyframes. If your blocking stage wasn’t detailed enough, the software struggles to capture the subtle nuances and energy you originally had. Last week George introduced us to the concept of blocking plus. It’s basically taking your blocking stage a step further by adding more in-between poses and breakdowns. in this case, we’re essentially providing more information about the movement, allowing the …

WEEK 12 – Advanced Body Mechanic Spline Read more »

Autodesk Maya Blocking Plus It’s an animation technique that builds upon the initial blocking stage, keeping the energy alive throughout the process. Blocking work is the foundation of our animation. It’s where we establish the key poses of our character’s movement, focusing on the overall flow and timing of the shot. Blocking plus goes beyond the basic blocking stage. Instead of jumping straight to splines (which can make movements stiff), we have to refine our animation by adding step-keyed poses in between the keyframes. These additional poses help solidify the timing and weight of the movement. George also gave us some useful advice like avoiding putting everything …

WEEK 11 – Advanced Body Mechanic Blocking + Read more »