Honours Project- ‘Bringing Bones to Life’

For my Honours Project I investigated into the ways in which scientific and artistic methodologies can inform a Technical Artist in the production of credible rigs for 3D creature animation.

Below are a series of Posts from throughout the first semester of the project.

'Proposal Abstract'

3D computer animation is in its infancy compared to traditional animation's near century of existence. Nevertheless it has rapidly become an admired and powerful tool in the art of storytelling. One of the most significant principles of animation is appeal, particularly in character design. this appeal is what influences the audience to have compassion for the character, it is what drives them to become immersed in the animation they are viewing. Gone are the days where an audience sat stunned in their seats at the sight of a drawing coming to life on screen. With the constant force of technological advancements, computer animation is now capable of realising the most astonishing thoughts of the human imagination. The task of immersing an audience in these tales of 'far off worlds' and 'fantasy creatures' has become much more demanding. It is increasingly essential for animation to boast convincing characters, taking from real-life influences and relying on the portrayal of personality through realistic movement and expression.

It must be clearly established that a thorough investigation into the specific movements of the relevant animal influences is crucial when intending to create convincing creatures it. Additionally this dissertation proposal suggests that not only does the task of creating believable movement fall to the animators, but also to the technical artists who create the rigs capable of this movement. The research aims to fully appreciate the importance of creating competent rigs to  provide convincing movement. To discover how the creation of these structures can be best supported, exploring methods from art and science, and begin to suggest why they are fundamental to the process of a technical artist.

'Gantt Chart Draft 2'

We found out recently that the end of the project is the 13th of May not the 20th of May, plus I have made edits to my final activities so here is an updated gantt chart-

(Click to see a larger view)

'Gantt Chart Draft 1'

(Click to see a larger view)

'Final Aim and Objectives'

'Investigate the ways in which scientific and artistic methodologies can inform a technical artist in the production of credible rigs for 3D creature animation.'

1.0.              Identify the processes used by scientists and artists to define the movement and behaviour of fictional and non-fictional creatures.

1.1.              Investigate the process by which scientists work through the available evidence base of animals; both living and extinct, to determine how their structure and environment affects their movement and behaviour.

1.2.              Research the methods used by scientists to establish the appearance of extinct animals.

1.3.              Study how existing designers approach the creation of 3D creatures and how they make the characters appealing to the audience.

2.0.              Identify any rules and establish important steps involved in the progression of rigging a 3D character with focus on non-humanoid characters.

2.1.              Find existing examples of animated creatures and examine/deconstruct their methods for rigging and animation.

2.2.              Discover the needs of current animators and what effect this has on the rigging process.

3.0.              Investigate how the information gathered in Objectives 1 & 2 can be applied to the production of credible rigs for 3D creatures.

3.1.              Evaluate methods discovered and identify processes to be used for best practice research.

3.2.              Create a series of case studies exploring the different techniques and theories preferred.

3.3.              Generate trial rigs testing elements of different types of creature characters.

4.0.              Perform subjective and objective evaluations of the preferred methodologies, refining the process for the final creature creation and present the subsequent outcomes.

4.1.              Interpret observations implemented in activities 3.2 & 3.3 and make a subjective evaluation to define the methodologies to be used for the development of the final creature concept.

4.2.              Submit proof of concept rigs to an outsourced animator and receive feedback.

4.3.              Revise planned methodologies to accommodate feedback from the subjective and objective evaluations.

4.4.              Produce the final creature character informed by previous evaluations.

4.5.              Submit final creature to an outsourced animator and receive concluding objective evaluation and animation sequences.

4.6.              Overall evaluation and referral back to the extent in which scientific and artistic methodologies can inform a technical artist's production of rigs.

4.7.              Exhibit rigs in the form of a showreel.

'How Finding Nemo Works'

Arkoff, V.2006. How 'Finding Nemo' Works. [Online] Available from: http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/how-finding-nemo-works.htm [Accessed 10 Jan 2011]

'Sketchbook pages'

 

'Anotate here'

'Horses'

 

'Anotate Here'

'Cats'

Here is some footage taken at 'Edinburgh Zoo' & 'Blair Drummond Safari Park' by my stepdad Mike Cowe during the summer.

'Anotate Here'

 

 

 

'Kangaroos'

Here is some footage taken by my mum and her husband, Julie and Mike Cowe during their honeymoon in Australia.

'Anotate Here'

Lizard Footage

Here is some footage taken by my mum and her husband, Julie and Mike Cowe during their honeymoon in Australia.

'Anotate Here'

'Monkeys'

Here is some footage taken at 'Edinburgh Zoo' by my stepdad Mike Cowe during the summer.

'Anotate Here'

'Penguins'

Here is some footage taken at 'Edinburgh Zoo' by my stepdad Mike Cowe during the summer.

'Anotate Here'

 

'Crocodiles'

Here is some footage taken by my mum and her husband, Julie and Mike Cowe during their honeymoon in Australia.

'Anotate Here'

'Seals'

Here is some footage taken at 'Blair Drummond Safari Park' by my stepdad Mike Cowe during the summer.

'Anotate Here'

'Animal Studies'

It is really interesting to look at how animals move and very relevant to my project. I plan to spend a fair amount of time looking at animal structure and environment to see how this relates to their movement, as well as looking at scientific and artistic techniques of gathering this information.

I know I aim to focus on fantasy creatures in my rigging but real life influence; real life animals, have a big part to play in the design of fantasy creatures and I feel a study and understanding of their movement is a vital process in becoming a credible rigger.

'Proposal Introduction'

"the more believable we make it, the more magical the experience will be."

Brad Bird (Cited in 'The Art of Ratatouille.' 2007)

Technically speaking; 'Animation' is the rapid display of a sequence of images in order to create the illusion of movement.(3D World, 2010) However it is the overall effect of this 'illusion' which captures the essence of what animation is all about. It can be said that one of its main purposes is to entertain an audience in a medium that knows no boundaries. Yet to capture and maintain the audiences interest, they must be able to relate to the world and the characters within the story; the content must be believable.

The process of animating compelling characters originates with the Character Designer. They must be forward thinking and make sure that the character holds all the necessary features needed for what it will be doing in the story. The main aim of a characters appearance is to get an immediate reaction from the viewer whether it be sympathy, fear, laughter or suspicion;  the audience needs to be able to identify with the character and easily recognise their personality and attitude. This empathy for the character is not only gained through efficient character design, but also through the body language and facial expressions of that character; its performance. (Hooks, 2003) Many would say this is the animator's responsibility, but this research aims to reflect upon another opinion. The role of creating convincing movement first falls to the technical artist; without them the animators would have nothing to animate.

The technical artists role can involve many different areas of expertise. One of their main responsibilities, the area this study will focused on; is the design and creation of character rigs. They are a vital component in producing a successful animation. Required to work closely with character artists and animators, the technical artist must interpret the needs of both and form them into the creation of a pertinent complex rigging system.

These rigs must be capable of a range of believable movements and expressions to allow the subsequent animation to be performed appropriately. With the intention of obtaining influences from various scientific studies, in addition to technical and artistic processes from existing film, animation and games; this project will consider how drawing from the techniques of a range of different disciplines can help form a more effective approach to rig creation for animation.

There are countless possibilities when it comes to variety in characters; thus there is a need to focus on a specific area. Therefore, the focal point of this project will be the rigging of creature characters. These characters would benefit from further study as they often stray into fantasy, creating more complex designs. Consequently giving the brief purpose but still allowing for extensive research.

'Meeting with Lynn- Academic Supervisor'

As it was my first meeting with Lynn we started with me trying to explain what my project was. I showed her my aim and objectives and it seemed that Lynn was very much on the side of John. I think her first question was 'is this what you want to do'  to which my reply was something along the lines of 'I have no idea anymore.' We discussed my proposal in great depth, Lynn was great, trying to help me identify what I would like to achieve through my project. 

After a whole semester full of confusion it was a good feeling to finally be discussing and understanding what it is i wanted to do, with someone who understood what I was getting at in the first place. It was just 3 months too late!

I realised that before Lynn I was only really speaking to scientists for advice...I'd ended up with a science project. I think this is why I've been having so much trouble focusing and figuring out what work to do...I didn't understand what I was setting out to accomplish. I was too busy trying to keep everyone else happy, I didn't consider myself. My project was laid out all wrong for what I actually wanted to study, I didn't want to spend half the semester reading about science and paleontology, its a section but it shouldn't be the main focus.

With some great advice from Lynn I managed to get my aim and objectives restructured to allow me to be much more creative with my research and development giving much more support to my practical work. 

Afterwards Lynn said 'The project is very interesting and has potential to build your technical understanding to help you create a broad portfolio of work for your show reel along with an interesting dissertation.' I definitely feel so much better about my project, only problem is that the semester is now over and I don't have all that much time left until Jan hand ins...

Also I didn't manage to get a draft proposal into Colin in time as my project was restructured the day before the hand in...however it's much better that I understand what I'm doing now and have a relevant project.

Because of the worries with my project and difficulties getting my project idea pinned down, I have been spending all my time writing aim and objectives and trying to find relevant scientific literature, and figure out what I was doing...I haven't had any time to work on concept development or pre-production. However I haven't been wasting my time, I have been working A LOT on my Inspiration Sketchbook and Blog to help me figure out what I like and what I want to study this year, which I think has been a great help.

I have been reading but I never felt like it was relevant as it wasn't about paleontology and evolution and all scientific and every time i did a search for literature I couldn't get my head around it. Now I feel I can read about how Pixar works and how people rig their characters and it IS relevant to my project.

Now to crack on...

'Puppet Shop'

Lumonix have this great plugin for 3Dsmax called Puppetshop.

I definitely  need to look into automated rigs, how they work, how they can help, flaws etc. I will get 3Dsmax ASAP and have a play around, the site is great as it has many tutorials outlining the processes most commonly needed, explaining how to use Puppetshop. I will post back here later with my findings.

'Example Showreel'

For creating my showreel at the end of the project I need to know what a showreel should involve.

Here is an example I found by Kieran OSullivan an Australian Technical Artist.

He has also included a PDF file with a breakdown of each piece shown in the reel, I think this is a great idea, it doesn't have to be read but if someone has interest and wants to learn more then they have the information at hand rather then having to take time to email, wait for replies etc...they might not hold enough interest to put in that amount of effort, but after reading about the projects be willing to spend more time on the person if they fit the bill.