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AX3002: Animation Production and Professional Awareness(May)

29/04-03/05

the last scene and poster making

I drew the background of the last scene this Wednesday and finished the last scene in after effect. also, I did a sea wave in the scene of the beach. I hide the wave layers under a 60% transparency layer.

the wave is composited by different colors, it looks like a cartoon style wave. it used to show the sea is not motionless. so I don’t need it to be presented on the top layer.

the last scene of the courtyard. it is also necessary for flowing water. I use the tool to control points in after effect, so I only need to keyframes on these points to let it move.

because next week I need to submit the poster and book, so I start to do works about these. I am not good at designing a poster. I look for some animation film poster example. (https://www.google.com/search?q=animation+film+posters&safe=active&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwidwcTs-obiAhXXRRUIHRGsDv8Q_AUIDigB&biw=1858&bih=1007) I found I do not have a suitable background to make the poster. I use the first stone, the smooth stone and eagle model to become elements of the poster. however, it still has too much space.

and the background color is not the best choice.so I want to ask for some advice from tutors next week. about the book, I have added most of the elements. there are still some problems with the layout and presentation. I will finish it next Tuesday. I will focus on doing my film. there are only two weeks.

06/05-10/05

finish the poster and book

I tried many ways to layout the poster, however, they cannot make me satisfied. I decided to use the background of a waterfall in my film to be the underground picture of my poster. I want my bird model can be a part of my poster, I tried a flying position, but it looked not good .because the main character in my film is the stone. if I use the flying bird, it must occupy too much space even it is not 100% opacity. so I thought I could make it stand on the title, it could be smaller. and also the change in my stone should be demonstrated. so at least I need to present these two stones’ model. although my first idea was left the stone on a stone wall, it looked very wired. I tried to use a layer mask. but it is still not good. so the following picture is the final poster.

about the book, the reference books are from the blackboard. I can know what to put in the book. because at this point, I haven’t started to edit. so I pass this part.

about my film. I searched for many videos online, I want to make the flowing water looks more natural. so I found a way to use the input AE script which is called mir script to do the water effects. it helps me to finish the water effects faster. but l didn’t change all the shots with flowing water in mir. I also used this script to do the water.

https://www.bilibili.com/video/av11374094/(link for one way to use mir)

this script only has 14-days free trial.

13/05-17/05

I was editing the sound SFX and background music and monologue this week. all the sounds are from a Chinese resource website( www.aigei.com)

all the sounds are done in Premiere Pro. and I sent two versions of background music to PETE and got the notes.

0.42 smile sound....can be repeated at the end when the stone is happy 0.47...inner ...lets go! be louder 1.14 need angry sound 1.50 louder and struggle sounds needed 2.02 need sound as he hit rocks...ping ping ping 2.10 knocking sound is odd...distracts...what is it? time lapse ...could be village voices then sound of a loud city...you decide

2.32 an OH Great sound...as in happy...though not as happy as at the end 2.44...what is that sound? stone is happy? footsteps bit earlier...so stone sounds concerned

...happy sound at the end , same as at 0.42 but longer and louder

so I adjust some audio or delete some unsuitable parts or record some new sound.

about the transition, I don’t think I need many transitions between every two shots. some shots are in the same scene, so I think the transition could be used in the change of different scenes. so I only use two or three transitions in my film. and about the rendering. I rendered it about four times because of the sound.

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this is the flowing water test video

I drew a long river picture and keyframes to let it translate

this is a testing video of flying eagle. because the skin weight has not been finished, so I only key the frames on wings, so each feather is separated from other feathers. I have not taken any reference before this test video today(11/04). I will search for some reference about how an eagle flies and attach the link in the following paragraphs.

real eagle reference:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM2bC6qNksM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvXzyPLdMvc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2suQQmnFW8

3D eagle animation:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k91HRa9pSb0

I also found a video of a basic flying animation on youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Roko7vTKCzU) it really shows how the wings move when it flies. I have a shot that my bird needs to fly like the basic bird model in the video, I will copy how it flies and use it on my film.

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Essay

AX3002 Essay

David Brown, Cinematic Animation Director, Friday 8th March 2019

David Brown is a cinematic animation director at TT Games. He learned a lot from different things in his degree works or jobs. Now he leads animators to work with a big group of people. David Brown said, ‘it is good for them to have well freedom to come up with those different ideas.’I have to say that although I am doing my film by myself, it is really important to keep different ideas or compositions for each shot in mind. For me, it is the first time to focus on each step of a project. I thought that if I already have an idea for my film and an animatic. The rest things to do is to do the film on the basis of the former processes. However, there are still many problems during the rest of the work. For example, my thought in animatic is to do a shake shot, but I am not able to demonstrate the changes of the perspective for this scene so I might need to reconsider the type of shot when I do the film. So it is important to keep thinking about different ideas to deal with these problems that probably happen. If I always keep the old version, I may not get a better result of the film. I am thinking about various angles or actions before I start doing a shot. He said, ‘You need to say what we focus on is telling the story of a game.’ everybody need to touch the project. (Brown,2019) It is true that whatever for a film or a game, there is a story in it. What we need to do is to show the other people who do not know the story and let them understand. A story can be told in a lot of ways. I am going to show my film to other people who have not seen my film before, it is easier to get objective comments. It is a risk to do it, because it may need me to change the character’s performance in different ways.

Linda McCarthy, Stop Motion Filmmaker, Friday 23rd November Linda McCarthy is a stop motion filmmaker. She works in her studio. After she took a career break to raise her 4 children. She returned to academia and specialized in stop motion animation. Because there are some 3D characters in my film, and I am also confused about how to create facial expressions in stop motion animation. So I had a talk with her in cJAM event. It is similar between the 3D digital model and the real model. Linda McCarthy told me that in stop motion animation, they model some faces with different expressions, and then change the face directly if necessary. It reminds me that I can use the blend shape options in Maya instead of using controllers. Because in some teaching videos online, they usually use controllers to control those high-quality models. So I forget it is easier to use blend shape options for these very simple models. Linda McCarthy also said, ‘it is important to manage time.’(McCarthy,2018) it is really close to the final deadline on 20th May. Without the 3-minute film, I still have some other works to do, such as the poster, showreel, and art of the book. I need to complete my planner for the rest of time in the milestone3 to make sure I can finish my film on time.

Saul Blinkoff, Animator and Director Saul Blinkoff is a Disney animator and director. Saul Blinkoff began his career as an animator for the WALT DISNEY STUDIOS working on the hit films Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, & Tarzan. In the lecture that I found online, Saul talked about his early experience when he was 11years old, he wanted to be a filmmaker. And then, when he was in junior school, he updated his mind and he wanted to do an animation in Disney. Saul Blinkoff said’ the only thing you can control is how hard you work’ and ‘ focus the only thing that you can do better.’ (Blinkoff,2015) In his early period at Disney, Saul Blinkoff had to remember the objects that he needs to draw in his head. When animators make animations, they not only refer to the actors' poses but also refer to their own expressions in the mirror. Trying to do things better is not only applicable to my current film. I am not particularly good at expressing ideas, but I have a lot of stories that I want to tell. Now I need to express myself in the form of art and another language. Maybe there will be some mistakes in the production process so that the work cannot be presented in a more perfect form, but I cannot give up. It takes harder work to do the film I want.

Kevin Spruce, Thursday 14th March 2019 Kevin Spruce is known for his work on Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Doom (2005) and Lost in Space (1998). He works in the animation department and visual effects. Kevin Spruce received three nominations. Two of them are for the Guardians of the Galaxy. He showed a lot of fantastic works in Guardians of the Galaxy. Especially for the character Rocket Raccoon. Rocket Raccoon is a genetically engineered raccoon. So he is redesigned from the real raccoon on earth. In order to walk like a human and also he needs to do some performances that a real raccoon cannot do. Kevin Spruce said they really did various different styles for this animal. Kevin Spruce said, ‘learn how to animate from real life.’ (Spruce,2019) It is true because whatever you create an amazing and non-realistic creature, it is based on some real creatures on the earth. That reminds me that I actually did not take enough reference when I design my characters. There is an eagle in my film. I did not draw it in a realistic style. It stands like a human. Although I want it looks cuter in cartoon style, it brought some confusing problems when I started to model it. For example, Because the body shape is not like ordinary birds, so how to place the wings is affected by the design draft. Also, Kevin Spruce showed some original testing videos of how to make these animal characters walk more naturally. Because most of my characters in my film are in 3D, so I realize testing is important. Although my eagle character will not appear in many shots, it is harder to make it fly and jump naturally than the main stone character. To make sure it can look better in my final film, I really need to do some testing videos and check.

Hjalti Hjalmarsson, Animation Director&Actor Hjalti Hjalmarsson is known for his work on Agent 327: Operation Barbershop (2017), The Daily Dweebs (2017) and Caminandes: Llamigos (2016). This is a talk called ‘The Principles of Animation’. He showed an example of a bouncing ball and explained the principle at the same time. There are thirteen principles include timing&rhythm, spacing, squash&stretch, arcs, anticipation and more. The purpose of these principles is to make the characters in the film act more naturally. This makes me realize that sometimes when I keyframe for my stone character, the animation of the stone looks very strange. I must ignore some principles when I keyframe. Like a stone, I think it would be weird if it stretches. Hjalti Hjalmarsson said, ‘if you have a thing coming up in your screen and the viewer might not already know what it is like it may be the viewer didn’t know this was a razor blade it wasn’t really established.’(Hjalmarsson,2017) Now when I keyframe for my character, the space between two frames is not the best. When I put character animation is into the after effects with the background, I modify the length of time. Perhaps this will make one shot look more natural, but it may affect the overall feeling of the character animation. In order to make the audience realize what my character is and what he is doing. It needs more testing video to make the animation more natural.

Conclusion I think it is important to get the professional experience out of these speakers from the business. A film is a story, whatever it is long or short. Kevin Spruce said, ‘work with professional artists.’ from the conception to the performance of a story, it is necessary to learn from professionals. There are still some apartments that I do not have ideas with. The intention in my film is subjectivity, is to show a spiritual and physical growth after a series of challenges. It is also a cute style film. So the choice of sound is also important. Although my story is needed to be modified by the tutors, I still think that all the changes need to be made on the base of my original point of view. Success takes time. I hope my film can convey my idea. Kevin Spruce impressed me with the various 3D models that he presented in his speech, as well as the motion test videos. Only overcoming a lot of trials and errors could get success is my initial thought. I wish I could let the audience make sense of it. Although this film is my personal work, I will keep improving the rest of work. I want to make a film that shows the best of skills that I have. Lectures 8th March 2019 David, B(2019). Cinematic Animation Director. UCLan Lecture.14th March 2019 Kevin, S(2019). UCLan Lecture.23rd November 2018 Linda, M(2018). Stop Motion Filmmaker, cJAM Event.Videos Hjalti, H.(2017). The Principles of Animation- Making Of. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtJeoPAGbfY [Accessed 6 Apr. 2019].Saul, B. (2015). A Jewish Disney Animator/ Director- Making Of. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCErSdd_agY [Accessed 5 Apr. 2019].Images Reference 1: Linda, M(2018). The cJAM Event. [Image] UCLan lecture. [Taken 23 November 2018].Reference 2: Kevin, S(2019). [Image] UCLan lecture. [Taken 14 March 2019].Reference 3: Hjalti, H(2017). The Principles of Animation- Making Of. [Image] Available at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtJeoPAGbfY [Accessed 6 Apr. 2019].

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AX3002: Animation Production and Professional Awareness(April)

01/04-05/04

reference: background drawing- stone river bank and the perspective

https://www.google.com/search?q=stone+river+bank&safe=active&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwickuOcsLHhAhXHSRUIHd7BAV8Q_AUIDigB&biw=1857&bih=960

I refer these pictures and draw the shot 11

feedback:

The cloud in shot 3 and the thinking bubble are both with border now. they are needed to be removed because it is not consistent with the style of other backgrounds.

The stone goes from surprise to sadness after he sees the amber. He closes his eyes too slowly. His eyes need to see something to show that he is thinking.

The center of the shot is changed to the house itself, and a little bit of shots is added after shot two to make the transition coherent

The behavior pattern of stone in the thinking bubble can be changed to first appear the noumenon and then be smoothed by high-speed rotation of stone polisher, and then the stars become more

this link is about the principles of animation, it reminds me how to make my animation more natural (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtJeoPAGbfY)

because I am working on the essay this week, so I have not started to adjust these shots that were talked on Thursday.

in addition to that, the animation has been done about 90 seconds without sound, the shadow of stone and effects. the next plan is to adjust the former 90S, and then check the eagle character, because it will appear in next shot. there are still some problems on the eagle model. I found it is impossible to change the position of the eagle because of the IK handle on eagle’s legs. I try to map the background on a plane in Maya to test the video. although Amos told me that it is difficult to combine 2D with 3D, so it could be better to divide the background into the horizontal and vertical parts. but I did not realize it before most of my backgrounds have been done.

08/04-12/04

there is a talk with Kevin Spruce this Thursday. I show the shots I have done but not finished and the eagle testing video. about my story, it may be clear to tell the content but it lacks some interesting shots. and also about the eagle model, it could be better to fold the wings more behind the back. it looks like a soldier, is not natural.

and also it could be funnier to design more movement poses for the stone. I am thinking about how to make it funny.

these are the reference for flowing water

river in the real world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5IfmnqI2lE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z8XCAW8W58

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-sE6PhO73I

and these are some references in animation or cartoon style

these references all show the calm river, my idea is to separate the flowing surface and wave in two different layers. it could make sense. I will show the testing video in another article.

my film has been done to the shot that the bird catches the stone and takes off. I rendered the bird with a plane in Maya, so pictures come out with the shadow like the following picture.

I used the color choice in photoshop to wipe off the plane’s color. so there is still a visible grey frame around the shadow when I input animated sequence into the background. and this shadow is not transparent so I cannot see the background under the shadow. I think it is not natural. my idea is to render a sequence without shadow and draw a shadow sequence in photoshop on basic of the rendered shadow in Maya.

about the schedule, I didn’t finish the scene three last week and I need to finish scene four and at least half scene five. there are still some backgrounds left. after I finish keying the frames of the bird. I will focus on drawing the backgrounds next week.

15/04-19/04

I drew these environments this week. only the last scene’s environment has not finished yet. the last scene is in a courtyard. about the film, I have done to scene five, totally about 2min 15 seconds.

however, I have not finished all the flowing effect, I will show one short video of flowing water.

22/04-26/04

I did not do a lot of work this week. I searched for some videos that teach how to create effects in AE.

bubble effect: https://www.bilibili.com/video/av11350676/

https://www.bilibili.com/video/av20636439/?spm_id_from=333.788.videocard.2

I also want to figure out how to draw the sea wave, I referred to some pictures of color of the wave. (https://www.google.com/search?safe=active&biw=1858&bih=1007&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=hJDFXI-pHZiYjLsPj5iJwAQ&q=sea+wave+on+beach&oq=sea+wave+on+beach&gs_l=img.3...3683.7605..7893...0.0..0.273.672.8j0j1......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i67j0j0i8i30j0i24.dPlWYZN90Ow)

the film has been done to the final scene, the final scene is in a courtyard. before that, Scene five far from complete. Although I tried to add shadow this week, it was not very successful. Still, want to wait for all scenes are completed, then unified processing shadow.

I need to put all the scenes together for next week's presentation.

and, the shots I have done is up to 3 minutes, and more. so I want to finish the film in scene 5.

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AX3002: Animation Production and Professional Awareness(March)

04/03-08/03

now, I have learned a new method from Mario to control the wing by setting the driver key. It really works, although it does not look beautiful. I was confused about how to control the bones of the wing.

I think the rest of the work is to blind the skin and paint the weight of skin. it can make the bird move smoothly.

in order to start the animation, I need to focus on my character stone now. the stone is easier to control its movement. I do not need to create joints. I only need some controls and different expressions. I looked for some teaching videos that I can learn how to deal with the facial expressions.

https://www.51zxw.net/show.aspx?id=44216&cid=507

I have created six different expressions in the following pictures. I do not know how to connect them with the control, so I have not created the controls. I think I can try to do the character and the environment together. In order to test whether they can work.

I tried to make the film in Flash, but it has some problems. it is not easy to fix the character in the same place, and also I really need to import the picture sequence. it can make my film look more smooth. so I decided to do my film in Premiere Pro.

the shot one is raining, I am thinking how to show the rain by drawing or using raining effect.

11/03-15/03

after the talk with Mario and Pete, I got some feedback on my work that I have done about my film. firstly, the 3D stone is darker than other stones I drew. it doesn't look in harmony. so I need to draw the stone wall darker or render this stone lighter. of course, I need to think the size between the stone with the wall. maybe l need to separate some stones on the top of the wall, the rope that links to the amber should look more obvious because the amber is like hanging in the sky. the more important thing is that I need to draw the environment in 5760*3240.

l will do some research for the test video of the walking video. the character in Spirited Away is similar to my character stone because they both have no arms and legs.

the difference between these characters is that my stone is harder than these heads, l think l do not do some stretch animation.

these two are both the test video of how the stone jumps. in order to make it drop on the ground heavily, I made it do some buffer action. and also I start to do the film in PR.

18/03-22/03

The major focus in this week 1.Animation in PR

2.An adjustment of the eagle's skin weight 3.Modeling a smooth stone for the first half of the animation

The animation has been produced about 65 seconds without sound and effects.

The two stones were used to make the animation together. There were some small problems in the production process. Because it was not a continuity operation, sometimes once the Angle of view was adjusted, it would be impossible to connect the former and the latter animation. Because keyframes are easily confused with those in the shape editor, essentially remaking the new action requires deleting all the frames. Making an animation in PR can easily adjust the properties of each segment. My idea is to complete the most special effects processing in PR, but there are many video special effects on PR.So I have to try it one by one.

I learned PR on an online Chinese website. There are some other software courses on this website.

https://huke88.com/route/pr.html

25/03-29/03

environment update on more details

to distinguish the wall indoor from the wall outside, the color of indoor wall change a litter lighter, and plus a vart out of the window

change another visual effect on the stars

show the sad mouth on the stone, it is too dark

the last jump is strange, maybe cutting it is better

and I ignored an important thing that in the brief, does not composite the shots in the premiere, it may be lost some files. I have not used after effects before.

I start to use after effects from scene two, scene two is from jumping out of the grass and pressed by a cart. and then jumps into a forest. now I have produced to the shot that the stone is pressed by the cart. I build a new model from the original stone. and there are two middle pieces drop down.

because the color of the stone has been changed, so I think if it is more realistic that use the splashing water element. I remembered that I have ever watched the splashing water shot in one Japanese animation. so I take some screenshot pictures of this scene.

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AX3002: Animation Production and Professional Awareness (January-February)

21/01-25/01

At the beginning of this semester, all of us showed the process that we have done during this Christmas vacation. We also had feedback about something that we did last semester.

I need to finish the practical project this semester, but there are lots of deficiencies in my animatic. There are some feedbacks from this Thursday.

Firstly, my main character- the stone, I need to set a target for him. Why he wants to travel? He needs motivation. So, this is should be presented at the start of the film. Secondly, turning to a smooth stone is a long term process, but in my animatic, I haven’t shown it in the correct way. The background needs to change. Thirdly, probably I can do some changes to my animation’s style. Don’t do everything in Maya, combining 2D environments with 3D characters together. It can save much time. Fourthly, I should think more about my camera movement, because I had some same shots in my animatic, it must be boring for the audience.

Actually, I also want to do a little change to my main character, he is the hero in this film. he needs more emotion and expression.

According to Pete’s advice, I also need to do some researches on a short film, which is called ‘the monk and the fish’(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2u96bMm0Os https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrz4AAq-izA) I am not sure if it is called the brush line animation. it is quite simple but cute. There are also not too many colors, but it presents what we have and where is the character. This might be one method that I choose to design my environment.

And there is not only the film that I need to finish this semester. I need a plan because there are much more works to do. The action plan, the CV, essay, poster and the art of the film. So, I will talk about the changes in my film with Pete, Mario or Mark, decide what should I do next and draw up a detailed plan until the final deadline next week.

28/01-01/02

Tuesday: About the motivation that why the stone wants to be more smooth. I think he has to see something which attracts his eyes. The following picture is a draft of camera movement.

I want to show that the stone that lives on the wall which is surrounding a house sees an amber through the window. He thinks it is beautiful, and he is upset because he is dirty and full of moss. And the camera zooms in and shows the stone’s dirty body. He thinks if he becomes shining, he will be proud of himself. So he tries to escape from the wall. After he falls down from the wall, he gathers some small stones to be his arms and legs.

PETE said that there could be a person who put the amber on the desk so it can make everything seem logical.

About the way of how to present the time goes by, I think I can show it by turning the forest into a small village and then turning into a modern city.

PETE said maybe I can show the forest and the stone together, or let the camera moves between the forest and the stone.

Thursday: Because I haven’t decided which parts will be drawn, so I keep modeling until the answer is out. I try to practice the rigging, painting the skin weight in Maya, it brings a lot of problems to me. The percentage of one joint should occupy on the skin is hard to control.

So I need to find more reference and data and try more times.

So I restart rigging, this time the legs can move better but I haven’t solved the problems with the arms.

And about my main character- the stone, I show two kinds of stone to Mark, the left one’s eyes and mouth are separating from the body.

I think it may be more difficult to rigging. But Mark’s feedback is that the eyes and the mouth are more like having been made by people, it is not natural at all. So I need to redesign the stone. And Mark gave me some advice about some stones with natural faces.

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2016/11/the-japanese-museum-of-rocks-that-look-like-faces/

It provides a good example because maybe I can use the irregular bumps on the stone to be its feature. Also, Mark’ s feedback includes a movie called GALAXY QUEST. There is also a good example of a stone monster.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=rock+monster+galaxy+quest+youtube&FORM=HDRSC3

It is a monster that is bigger than human and it is comprised of many stones, so it is not as same as the stone in my film. But it is a good example of a stone monster.

On the way of how to show the time passage, my idea is to show the changes from a large forest to a small village and then to a city. Also, there is some research on different ways to show this change.

LAVA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh4dTLJ9q9o

ONE FROGGY EVENING: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Full+Cartoon+One+Froggy+Evening&FORM=RESTAB

These two methods also tell the time passage by the change of the environment. But one is about the natural environment, and another one is about the human building. I prefer to choose the natural environment.

There is feedback from Mark, it is about the different shots of how this stone rolls in the river. It should be more fun with more different angles. And also, there is something have been changed about the script. Such as maybe I will insert a waterfall in my script.

About the script update, maybe the appearance of the factory breaks the balance in my film. Maybe it can be better than everything is natural without man-made. So my idea is to change the factory to a pipe, and then the pipe inhales the stone. The stone rolls in the pipe and then is transported to a beach.

Setting sun a shadow of the child picks the stone. one night passes The stone appears in a beautiful garden. The light let it look more shining.

So I will keep drawing the new animatic and redesign the character this week.

Saturday: animatic update

In order to make sure that there are no other big problems with doing the formal film. I need to redraw some shots in the animatic.

In some scenes, it is a little hard to draw the correct perspective angle. So I only provide rough positions. After the animatic is all right, I will find reference pictures when I start to draw the final environment design.

I have different ideas about some shots, so I need to talk about these next week. And if I need more details and sound in this new animatic, I will finish it before the first milestone.

04/02-08/02

Monday: main character- stone redesign

In order to show a natural stone, the eyes, and the mouth are redesigned by some irregular shapes. So I will show it to Pete or Mark tomorrow, if it is OK, I will model it this week. I got this idea from this picture.

I like this style rather than that stones which have three shallow holes on it. Because this kind of rock is more shape. The stones with three shallow holes are usually smooth. I think they have been washed for a long time. So I like this shape nose and eyes.

So, this is the process of rebuilding the stone model, but I am not sure how to arrange the line. I need to rebuild again.

Tuesday: FEEDBACK OF ANIMATIC FROM MARIO

There are shots that can be presented in a better method.

1. After the stone falls down to the ground, changing the camera to look down shot until the stone walks into the grass.

2. Show the stone and the time passage in one scene, after the time passes, the stone will be hit and drop to the bottom of the waterfall

3.cancel the zoom in when the eagle is catching the stone

4. Walking out of the grass by the stone’s view. And then using the shot that as the same height as the stone.

5. Simplify the pipes underground and keep the city building when the stone is crossing the city.

6. When the light hits the stone's eyes, the stone needs to show the feeling of being unable to open its eyes. And the effect of light doesn’t look like light.

Also, after this shot, there is a shot that needs to show the shining amber. Don’t need to zoom in, just show the amber directly after cutting the shot before.

When the camera comes back to the stone, show more expressions that should be aiming to show he likes to be more beautiful and smooth.

So these following pictures are the changes in some shots.

Thursday: FEEDBACK OF ANIMATIC FROM MARK

We discussed a lot of things that need to be changed. The most common problem throughout the animatic is that the shot doesn't show what I need to express myself. Will make the audience feel very confused. At the same time, a lot of camera shots in my film are not necessary, which cause a lot of waste. In some scenes there is also a lot of space, making the picture very empty. According to Mark, when making the whole animation, not only the direct connection of the lens should be considered, but also the audience should be able to understand the meaning of the picture. Therefore, most of the modifications were made on the lens structure. Through the adjustment of the angle, as far as possible to reduce the inharmonious elements in the picture. From the beginning of the film to the plot of falling stones, have been greatly modified. The rest of the plot, scene, and perspective have been modified. Because the formal scene and character production have not yet started, so the modification is relatively rough. Before next week's milestone was originally planned to start the final design of the characters and scenes after completing the animatic. But the animatic modification took a long time. After the feedback of the new animatic next week, there must still be some changes to be made, but it needs to be carried out together with the character and environment design.

11/02-15/02

Tuesday: I start to think about the character re-modeling and the environment design. It is not easy to model an object that I can’t find around myself. So, I need many references. today, I am forced on the remodel the eagle in my film.

I also think something about how to build the wings could make the rigging easier. I searched some pictures in these following links that I need to know how many parts do one wing divided into.(https://www.google.com/search?sa=X&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB814GB816&q=bird+wings+without+feathers&tbm=isch&source=univ&ved=2ahUKEwjOlsfqjrbgAhXjUxUIHSe4BmYQsAR6BAgCEAE&biw=1920&bih=1040 https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB814GB816&biw=1920&bih=1040&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=_KFiXLmXPJSW1fAPoK6diA8&q=bird+wings&oq=bird+wings&gs_l=img.3..0l10.865596.873010..873201...3.0..0.76.593.13....3..0....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i67j0i5i30.17ziqR2XCJ0#imgrc=IVFyKXl84J7LmM:)

I have modeled two types of wings at the left corner in this picture. one is made by extruding(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPZ_vhjxHS0), the other way is pieced by every single feather.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xThiBnEyPs

this link is about how to rig the birds’ wings, but it starts with the feathers that have been bind skin. so I try to control one feather in the same way that can be chosen to rig the human’s fingers. to add an attribute and then connect them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S870qa7gu0c

this the link is to teach how to create and connect the finger controls. I don’t know how to duplicate the feather like the man did in the former video. but if I use the duplicate special to copy the model only, when I rotate the handle of the first feather, all the feathers can move together. but the spread levels of the wings are different, so I think if I can do it by more handles. but I am not sure that if it is the correct way to rig, so I need to ask my tutors about this question.

the eagle isn’t the only one object, the head, the body, the tail, the wings, and the legs are all separated from each other. so maybe there will be some problems when I start to paint the skin weight, but I hope it won’t be a serious problem that I can’t use this model in my final film.

18/02-22/02

a model update

I have started rigging the eagle this week, and I want to finish it this week and finish some environment drawing. I am studying how to rig in the video in the following link.

https://www.lynda.com/Maya-tutorials/Rigging-Winged-Animal-Maya/166505-2.html

the summary of this week

25/02-01/03

I am still working on the rigging of the bird. and there are only the bones of wings without rigging. I have no idea about it. to be honest, I cannot understand how other people did in those videos.

so I am looking for some other video to refer.

to save time, I am drawing the environment now. I am not good at drawing, in order to keep the angle in each scene is alright, I build a rough model of the environment, and then take pictures from different angles that I need to use in my animation.

these following scenes are those which have nearly been finished.

at first, I was worry about the color, although Mark suggested that I can draw in Sumi-e style, I have not tried this style in the past. I drew in the color that is a little grey, but my animation is easy, not melancholy, so I tried to use some lighter color. I think next I should consider the moving parts of the scene, such as the river. Of course, these scenarios are not completely finished, and some details need to be added or modified.

#AX3002

Animatic final output

The final animatic rendering is one minute and 43 seconds long. But there are still problems with camera movement and transition.

Peter feedback

the red word is based on the PETER’s feedback, and I write some note on it.

00:00:07 I need to turn the thought of the stone to an action, so it is more clear for the audience.

00:00: 20 changing the shot. let the road, the car. the stone appears together in one shot. when the stone walks cross the road. the shot becomes close up to the stone.

00:00: 29 I need to change the scene. I want to let the stone walks out of the forest and when he hears eagle scream. the camera moves to the sky.

00:00:38 I need to leave the bubble on the screen at least 2 seconds

00:01:20 when the stone goes into the forest. I need a transition to show the change of scene

00:01:27 the ratio of the truck and the stone need change

00:01:31 when the stone is transported into the factory, the shot should be zoomed in to let the stone looks bigger. It is easy to let the audience watch it.

#3MF

TV sequence final output

I add three elements which are fishing boats, garbage pollution, and octopus to my TV series. These elements are problems that sharks face in their ocean life. By placing them in the TV sequence, I want to give people a rough idea of what's going on on my TV. This is all mentioned in my series. Because I am not familiar with AE, all the elements in the whole 15-second sequence are hand-drawn and made with Flash, and finally exported in PR.

#TV series

Animatic

For my animatic, all drafts took 2.5 days. It took 1.5 days to build animatic by using FLASH software. Now I'm going to put in a part of the production scene that's a little different from the storyboard I put in earlier.

the first scene: directly zooming in, no camera move

gather stones as arms and legs

zoom in from the top view of stone to show the stone is falling down from the sky.

the stone rolls in the water. I show it three times, it becomes more smooth than last time.

the stone floats away with the branch together.

#3MF

child 2 model process

This is the process of the model. I watched a teaching video of how to make a model of a cartoon people.

https://huke88.com/course/9295.html

12.8 process update

#3MF

TV sequence

https://www.bilibili.com/video/av12260038/

octopus movement

shark movement reference

12.4 feedback from Peter

1. Let a person holds the spear and throws it into the water.

2.when spear goes into the sea, draw some line to show his speed and bubbles to make it more like in the water.

3. when shark sees the spear, using bigger eyes to show his reaction.

4.garbage move

making TV sequence interface

12.11 Peter says that I need to search for some music on Juke deck.com. Other works are fine.

#TV series

storyboard

these photos are my storyboard.

11.29

advice from Mario: the camera move should be fewer. and I also need to express more action from the main character. so I do a little change on page1, page 2 and page 7

12.4 storyboard feedback from Peter

From this advice, I need to do some change on page7,8,9,10

Page7 close up to stone to show the stone struggles with an eagle to escape his craw. And then use the top view of stone to show he is falling from the sky. Falling into the water, so that he falls into the water and causes a splash.

Page 8 delete shot 15. In shot 16, the stone keeps rolling underwater

Page 9 let the stone struck into a branch

Page 10 the stone moves again with the branch. and then it is crashed into the riverbank

#3MF

TV series book design

there are some photos of my book design progress. I got ideas of how to layout from lots of reference in the classroom. So, I know what should I put in my book.

Peter pointed out that there are some problems with my layout. so we changed some pictures’ position. Also, he said my merchandise is an old fashion. So, there is a game description of a simple game.

#TV series

merchandise and budget

these are the merchandise and budget page. the budget is for 13 episodes, each episode is 11minutes. I changed the amount of lead animator and animator by Peter’s advice.

about the merchandise, I draw a key ring, a toy, a pair of slippers and a cup. these ideas are from the characters in my series.

#tv series

episodes’ reference

i made some mistakes on my part of episodes. first, i wrote the episodes very accurately,i wrote dialog too. however, Peter suggest me to cut down these dialog, and write episodes more like a description about every story. this is a simple sample about one episode.

#TV series

octopus design draft update

by the advice from Mario, i make a little change about the three views of this character. character design should provide the essential concept of a character, not a action pose design, so i draw the front and side view again.And i think i need some other expressions.

#TV series

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