Storyboard Idea.

   My initial storyboard for the animation depicted a ship descending and releasing the gunbots, but as I further explored what was possible, i realised some parts of this idea were not possible within the time scale. However, as this was post research, it is interesting to note the shoulder mounted guns idea continued through to final render. It seems just quick, almost subconscious scrawlings of an idea can yield a degree of permanence.

Animation Visual Research.

   The following images document the research that lead to the model construction, and walk style of my gunbot.

• This image (Starcraft 2 'Goliath' concept) shows the position i'd like the weaponry to be in on the shoulders, as animating the walk cycle is the focus. If i can achieve some form of 'shooting' scene in the frames of the animation, then the animation will feel more genuine to it's purpose.  

• These mechs exhibit an interesting legs-straight-to-head construction. However, I want to convey a heavy battle mech, and these seems to convey a more 'scout' or 'ranger' based role. The solidity of the missing hip joint on these bots evokes an aura of imitative to human biology, so I won't be using this particular style in my final animation piece, as the classwork pertains to human walk cycles. 

• This mech is similar to the last image, but has two shoulder guns in an appropriate position to give me inspiration to the position of the shoulder guns I require. The cylindrical design also fits with what my vision desired. However, the legs are far too big, and still no hip joints. Legs to head seems to be a common design for these 'walker' mechs. 

• This mech style is obviously far more contemporary, as it portrays an air of high technology and massive scale. The knee joints are the reason behind this image being referred to as research, as they present a very functional, ergonomic movement. However, I wish to make my bot a bit clunky and weighty, so I can incorporate some comprehensive weight in the animation. 

• This is an image of the Steel Battalion walker mechs. The legs join to a lower section (hips?) which illustrates more closely the style I wish to create. However, this mech is a bit too clunky and weighty. The animation research has actually altered the mech design to a close cohesion of the styles I have presented, weighty, yet exact, but not too 'technological'.  

• This papercraft bot allowed a simplification of design that the high res concept images don't convey. The missile pods on the shoulders are a nice change, but i'd like to keep my main guns in the shoulder position. The cockpit also looks too much like a space ship design, and I'd rather make my bots head look like a 'head'.   

• This hand-drawn sketch illustrates a very exaggerated inverse kinematic dynamic to the silhouette. This style of leg walking is very appealing, as it removes the humanity, yet somehow with an air of ambivalence retains a biological pertinence. 

   This series of research images convey with efficacy the direction I wish to take my animated gun-bot. Of course when evaluating, some of these images have certain features that I find relevant to my animation, and some have very little that can inform my final animation. However, illustrating the origin of the idea is very important to understanding the workflow process, and in this instance, it has helped hugely. Following this research based development was informative, and refreshing, as my idea changed hugely from the instantaneous impression of how a 'walker bot' should look/move.

Final Animation.

   The following videos illustrate the final animation for the module. Through much trial and error, i managed to make something with some moments of realistic weight diffusion. However, there are many things in hindsight I could do to increase the efficacy of the animation.

Module Evaluation. 

I removed the suspension moment at the end of the previous animation loop, as that wasn't congruent with my vision. Instead I attempted to make a more fluid, yet stuttering loop. Suggestive of some faster reactive movements, mixed with slow, systemic kinaesthetics. If I'd had the time, I would've liked to re-animate the cylindrical cannon bearings/struts so they retracted when the shot pulse propagated. Upon further movement articulation, I also discovered the inverse legs were making things exponentially fiddly. As I had linked the control groups governing the chest plate and head together, the movement of the hips was also effecting the shoulder guns and head angle, and as the hips had to move in strange way to accommodate the inverse kinaesthetics. I made the hips drop and raise over 3 frames  when the foot contacted the floor. The purpose was to evoke a tangible weight to the steps, which on one step in particular, works very effectively. 

To conclude, this module has taught me many new aspects of animation design, and 3DSMAX facets. Considering the rules of animation during the core modelling stages of the gunbot was the biggest challenge. Deciding which parts of the model should be control group centres, and which parts to link took a while, as i wanted a weighty/clunky, yet exact walk/shot cycle. Using the animation facilities in MAX also had an unknown by-product of improving my modelling skills. As I used Maya to make the bot, the import function was also used, further adding to my digital toolkit and knowledge of program porting processes. 

Final Animation Work.

   After much experimentation with rigging and control grouping/linkages, I managed to make an animation from a model I designed. The design of this gunbot was made with animation in mind, as all the leg joints are spherical, allowing for 360º movement articulation. By linking the legs to the waist rod, I was able to make control groups on the waist rod, chest plate and feet. I also made a 'child' link to the head and shoulder guns, allowing these parts to move more realistically and mechanically with the legs. The long perspective lines in the previous posts screenshot illustrates how these child control groups work with the movement. The head slides round as the waist moves forward, as does the chest plate, allowing for a genuine 'targetting matrix' aesthetic. I feel this has succeeded, especially with the turn and shoot part of the animation. Achieving a sense of weight was the most difficult part, considering the rules of animation. Counter movements, slight juddering frames on the waist between big movement frames created a more robotic walk cycle. 

 

These films illustrate the animation style I have been making. I will continue to evolve this in the coming weeks, to see if I can achieve any further movement cycles, although the continuity of this remains difficult. However with the learning curve I have undergone during this module, I am confident I will be able to make the animation 'better' in every sense. The end in particular, I was attempting to make a jump... Obviously this was more taxing than I had first thought... 

Final Animation Idea.

   My final animation idea was to have a large Gun-bot with inverse legs (inverse kinematics) to create an interesting, irregular yet mechanic movement set. I will be completing a test rig&run over the duration today, and the following screenshots illustrate my progress.

   As these images show, I have made some significant ground in developing my final animation. Custom assigned control groups, many separate mother-child linkages and HI solver/IK solver use to allow for rigid, realistic movements. 

Walk Cycles

Key frame animating the walk cycles was the key point in learning how to adapt the technology to suit the making of my own walk cycle. Again, this was the same skill-set as the previous tasks, just further evolving the understanding. I am confident I will be able to make an animation with my own model due to the skills learnt here.  

Example of the control groups/constraints and their manipulation areas. 

Rigging poses.

    This video illustrates how a more complex rig, with multiple control groups, one can produce recognisable human poses. This showcases further key frame control and comprehension. However, this was essentially the same task as the bunny, except infusing the bipeds/skeletal rig. A token Hadouken pose is included with hilarity. 

Floppy Bunny. (anticipation)

    These videos illustrate the basic manipulation of control groups on a pre-fab model. This involved key framing which utilised squash and stretch points to convey tangibility. After this, a basic camera track was implemented to accent certain parts of the animation overall. The exercise improved my basic understanding of key frame animation in 3DSMAX, and the skills imbibed will enable me to make my own, short animation for the end of the module.    

Bones&bipeds.

Bones & Bipeds

   This session showed us how to animate a basic leg with two bones. This skill will come in particular use when attempting to rig our own models for personal animating.

 Bones and Bipeds allow for animation of  characters/meshes/models that can be made in a 3d modelling suite, with biped/humanoid skeleton pre-fabs that can be manipulated in a variety of ways. (Mechanical, Organic etc.)

By default, it is by forward kinematics that the animation hierarchy goes by, which can be difficult for animating realistic movements. However there is a way to get around this by assigning the lower bone (child) to influence the movement of the upper bone (parent) by customising the 'solver'. this is, in turn called 'inverse kinematics'.

 Can skin a model over bones to achieve animation.

Set all bones to rotation only by right clicking the scrubber and setting only rotation keyframes.

(Make a basic tail out of seven or eight bones, set them all to only be affected by z rotation, set all curves to 20 (on the first) and -20 (on the second rotation). The tail now sways, albeit a little mechanically, to make the movement seem more natural, like there is some sort of force/weight behind the movement we have to offset each bone's rotation by 1 each time, go through and do this for all the bones on the curve editor. Further playing around with offsets and positions perfects this as the animation should now seem to have a natural movement).

(This set of bones can now be copied and used on other objects within the scene.
Gimbal to rotate, parent to move).

.

Ball bounce

Ball Bounce.

• Key frames assigned (0, 20, 40) 25 FPS (frames per second.)
• Helper position altered on y axis (right port view) not front view, ergo not x. 
• (keyframe 20) Move ball helper to 'ground' impact point. 
• (keyframe 40) Move ball helper back to respective height on opposite side of 'ground'.
• Squash/Stretch tool implemented on ball selection at keyframes 3, 19, 20, 21 and 34 to realise the shape/geometry/structure distortion of the balls shape. (spherical, squashed to egg, spherical). 
• Rotate tool used to spin 90degrees at key frame 0, 180 degrees on z axis at key frame 20, then 270 degrees when reaching keyframe40.
•  Slight height alteration to create a sense of physical 'hanging' (frames 36 & 4-5)
• Active time segments ticked on render. Final sequence for rendering established. 

   Animation feels very natural and logical in 3DSMax. The autokey function is helpful for not having to remember every single frame and where the spin/position is at each point. This ball was taxing to make seem real when bouncing. As animation can break the rules of physics, you can begin to create realistic animations by exaggerating physics. (an inanimate object such as this ball, would not anticipate an impact, yet we made this ball anticipate the bounce to give it more 'character'. Reality is slightly static in relation to what is possible with animation. The below screen shot demonstrates the wave patterns in which the height and position on the axis change.

The 12 Principles of Animation.

Squash & Stretch
   The purpose behind squash and stretch is to give a tangible sense of weight and/or flexibility to a drawn/imported object. This can be employed in overly exaggerated scenarios to create caricatures and/or flamboyancy often resulting in a comical effect. Yet in reverse, maintaining realism requires a solidity that performs exactly opposite to comical animation. Very tiny amounts of squash and stretch, as the volume/mass of an object cannot change.  

Anticipation
   This serves to evoke a more convincing, realistic animation by 'building' the movement before the focal movement. (Such as a dragon leaning back to breathe fire, a knight slamming a hammer into the ground would begin with the heft, then a drag, then the final impact). To use anticipation as a comical tool, one would need to omit the realistic anticipation. 

Staging
   This principle is the decisions to be made on lighting, focus position, shadows, procession through the frame etc. Essentially, keep the focus on what is intended, and don't let unnecessary elements dilute the focus. Principle is also evident in cinematography and theatre. 

Straight ahead action - Pose to Pose
   Animated sequences occur through either drawn/photographic compilation means, wherein every frame is planned, and executed, be that photos or drawings. This is known as 'straight ahead action'. Pose to pose animation is the pre-planned pose storyboard system, wherein computing is used to connect the pose positions. Sometimes however, the animations outcome is far too lax, so further revision can be needed.

Follow Through and overlapping action
   This is a general heading for two closely functioning principles/techniques which help to render movement and give the impression characters follow the established laws of physics. The 'follow through' means that certain appendages will still be moving after the torso/centrepiece has stopped moved. 'Overlapping Action' is the principle that different parts of the animated body will move on different timings. This could be used to achieve a sense of realism, or a comical aura. 

Slow-in Slow-out
   The movement of the human body, and any other object with perceived weight needs time to accelerate and/or slow down. This means that the more drawings/model variations closer to the action poses will make the animation appear more realistic, by emphasising the extreme poses. This principle can apply to animate, and inanimate objects. 

Arcs
   Most natural/biological movement occurs through an arcing trajectory, which means animators must adhere to this rule to construct more realistic kinetics. This can apply to a limb rotating at the joint, or a an object projected through a parabolic trajectory. Machinations/machine movement does not abide to this rules, as most machinery moves in straight lines. 

Secondary Action
   Adding secondary action to an animation gives a scene more life, and can help to support the main action. A human walking can do any amount of movements simultaneously with walking. Arms swinging, head bobbing, head turning etc. The importance of secondary action is the complementation to the main action. It however should always be more subtle than the main action, otherwise it may compromise the scene as a whole. 

Timing
   This refers to the frequency/amount of drawings to be included in an animation process, which translates the speed of the animation. (similar to BPM in music). On observation, accurate timing intervals can increase the degree to which an animations appears t abide to the laws of physics. 

Exaggeration
   This principle is particularly useful in cartoon animation, as a perfect imitation of reality can appear static, or dull. To exaggerate, is to stand out from the regular, thus making an animation more memorable, as well as more intriguing. 

Solid drawing
   This principle pertains to using form in 3 dimensions to accurately represent weight, proportion and volume. An animator, for this principle, needs to be an adept draughtsman, and be able to comprehend and replicate anatomical systems effectively. The creation of 'twins', or two sides of one character that look identical was a common mistake in the foundations of technical animation. 

Appeal
   Appeal corresponds to what is known as 'charisma'. An appealing character may not be a sympathetic character - monsters and villains can hold an appeal also. The importance lies in convincing the viewer/audience that the character is real, and must exhibit some form of personality in their movement - distinctive from the everyday movements that we all witness.