Semester Final Animation

     Animation is a complicated form of art. There are different types of animation for starters, such as 3D and 2D, all of which can be created in different programs. During this year of animation I learned a lot about how to create these types of animations and even created one myself. Her the multitude of projects I've so far created I'll be discussing five. 

Maya

Maya Castle 

     This year we learned about a new program known as 'Maya'. It centers around 3D modeling and animating, which is new for all of us as we have only done 2D. We were all learned new technical skills, though being taught the basics of the program, starting with making shapes then learning how to make those shapes different, whether it as with colors or size. Afterwards, we learned how to put the shapes together to create something new and how to put on textures. Using the tools given to us we created a castle using 'extrude' and other utensils. I started with a tower, creating a large gray cylinder before adding more shapes onto it. Afterwards came the walls, rectangles with smaller squares extended out. Next I added on a texture of white bricks, since I felt like that was best suited for a castle. In the end I had four walls and four towers which I organized accordingly to create my final product. 

Maya Lighting 

     Of course, shapes aren't the most important aspect of animating. Lighting also takes a big role, not only in animating but in theater and in movies. Dramatic lighting can give a sense of dread to the viewer, putting in harsh lines on shadows where half of a face, for example, could be filed with get and the other half not even able to be seen because of the shadows. For a more comedy, no-so-scary movie, the lightening would be more 2D, coming from all around and giving a shine here another. 

     The main parts of lighting come from the key light, fill light and back light. All important aspects of lighting, each with their own role. The key light is the main light to focus on as it's the one that creates the most light, so where it shines is the brightest. The fill light is as the name says since it used to fill the space that the key light doesn't cover with light, usually at a lower hue and not as strong. The backlight it places behind whatever subject in being focused on, it provides a shine onto the subject as it's usually aimed from above. 

     We created an example of this in Maya. Since this project was the final one for the semester there was a limited time to complete it. Through project management, I separated the project out to get it created in the span of time I had left.  it started by creating a simple sphere before making is gold and adding shine onto it. By using booleans we subtracted parts of the circle out of place to leave a final shape. from there we created three lights, the key, fill and back light to illuminate the shape. This was a more difficult project as it required a lot of learning to actually complete, overall I'd change nothing bout it since it turned out exactly as I wanted it too. 

Adobe

Walking Animation

     3D projects were not the only projects we focused on. Near the beginning of the year we learned how to make a walking animation through Adobe Photoshop and Adobe AfterEffects. This was a 2d animation and a long process as it all began with creating a character. We all collaborated with each other to scramble some ideas for an original character to use in the animation. My character originally was a robot looking creature that I wasn't so fond of. I continued drawing random sorts of animals and creatures before creating a blob. Mostly out of boredom and lost hope, I gave the blob arms and legs and then decided this would be my character. Thus came Bob the blob.  Starting with drawing photos and then outlining them to upload onto Adobe Photoshop. 
     In Photoshop I had cleaned up Bob the blob, something that was one very easily by using different tools created a floor and sky for Bob the blob and added some extra images for the end of the animation. Then all of what was created Photoshop I moved into AfterEffects. Animating Bob the blob to walk was a challenge for me, however after re-doing the animation multiple times I finally got it to the point where I was satisfied. This project is a large building block when it comes to animating as walking is a fundamental characteristic of people. If I had to change anything about the project I did I would make Bob's steps longer as I felt they were too short. In the end it came out well.

Muliplane

     The multiplane animation was first introduced by Walt Disney who noticed when filming an animation that specific parts, such as the moon enlarged when zooming in. This is not good, as the moon does not actually enlarge in real life, in order to make the animations seem more realistic he made planes. One plane could get bigger while the other one stayed short, thus making animations more realistic and more better.
     With this in mind we began to make a multi-plane animation of our own. This project is also a fundamental piece to animating as it revolves around making a scene move in a more realistic manner. My greatest strength in this project was designing al the layers in photoshop as I painted the sky and shaded the grass to look just right. eventually we moved the project into Aftereffects where I had trouble animating the final product. The screen is shaky and the layers don't flow together as well I hoped but that's how I found out I accidentally, while in Photoshop, had saved some parts onto layers they weren't supposed to be on. But, nevertheless it looks alright and I'm fond of my color scheme. 

Animation

     The biggest project we worked on was making an actual animation that incorporated both walking and the multi-plane. I started with my story board which took me. long time to create, but was one of my favorite parts of doing the animation. Doing the storyboard gave me an idea of where I want to go with my animation and eventually I had it all put down and ready to go. By using the same methods in the walking animation to get the characters into the screen I editing the out just like before, also creating lots of different backgrounds in the process. A strength here was actually animating it all together as I had experience from doing the past two animations. In the end it looked good, although sadly without sound. If I could do it again I would figure to a way to add sound onto the video.