Narrative Visual Perspective in Animation

Narrative 2- Animation

Animation Narrative

This unit for animation, we dove into three dimensional modeling even further, and learned how to texture and use several different softwares, such as Maya, Z Brush, and Substance Painter. We designed weapons, environments, and even our own character. Then we also ended up working on creating three dimensional animation using motion capture, which I think was pretty cool and turned out great.

Weapon Design

Introduction

For Animation we started working on creating three dimensional models, and we made a weapon in the Maya interface last unit, which I made a hammer. This unit we continued that process, only we used a software called Z Brush to add more details and make it less blocky, and into a finalized model. After that we took the model and imported it into another interface called Substance Painter. It was there where we applied the textures and colored it, finishing the weapon and making it look nice. My final render of the weapon is below.

A 3d model of a rusty metal hammer
This is a render of the hammer in Substance Painter.
A 3d model of a rusty metal hammer
This is another render of the hammer in Substance Painter, but in another angle.
A 3d model of a rusty metal hammer lying on a field
This is an image of the hammer render in Substance Painter, with a background.

Reflection

I think I was able to familiarize myself with the new software, which was Substance Painter. I really enjoyed it and am pretty satisfied with my final product. I know that with more practice I would become even better with 3d models.

3D Environment Modeling

Introduction

For the next project, we were told to design an environment, and create different items corresponding to that environment. I wanted to go with a sort of Victorian theme, so I looked at some Victorian furniture and drew inspiration from that for my little room. As per usual procedure, I grew accustomed to creating a basic model in Maya, refining that model in Z Brush, and adding texture and finalizing it in Substance Painter. I did that process and after gathering all the elements, I imported them into Maya and was able to add the textures, and after setting everything up I was able to take the final renders.

A room with a curtained window, red wallpaper with wood, a wooden table with marble on top in the corner, chair pulled out, with a candle, ornate mirror, wooden chest, silver goblet and bowl.
This is a render of the room in Maya.
A different angle of the Victorian esque room
Another image of the room, showing the corner.
Top view of a Victorian esque room
This is a top view of the room.

Reflection

Something new I learned with this project was learning how to add objects into the Maya interface and assigning the textures to it. I got a lot of practice with all the objects I have in the scene.

Character Bio + Poses

After the environment, we got to model a character that might find themselves in that environment. Since I had a more Victorian-esque environment, I decided to create a prince, and named him Salas. I used a basic model in Z Brush and modified it to my needs, and then added textures to the final model. Below is the character bio completed in Photoshop using a finished render photo of my character.

An image of my character, who is a little boy prince
This is the bio for my character.
The prince in my environment, posed to reach for the mirror, another angle
One render of my character posed in the Maya environment.
The prince in my environment, posed to reach for the mirror
Another render of my character posed in the Maya environment.
The prince in my environment, posed to reach for the mirror, another angle
Another render of my character posed in the Maya environment.

Reflection

This was a little challenging, since I had to come up with the concept for my character, but I’m pretty satisfied with how the model came out, and the story I have planned for him.

3D Character Animation

The final big task we had was to create a three dimensional animation in the Maya software. We studied how to make the basic animations, including walking, running, and jumping, and using key frames to pose the character and make them move, becoming more familiar with the Maya software.

Above is the final rendered version of my walk, run and jump cycles for my character.

We are fortunate enough to have a functioning motion capture suit, and volunteers to wear the suit. The final project turned out to look pretty cool, even if it took a long while to render out.

This is the finished render of my motion capture animation video.

And above is the final narrative video, after finishing rendering and adding different sound effects, finally putting it all together in after effects.

Reflection

The task seemed daunting, but I cam out of this project feeling confident in my abilities. I learned a lot about the world of 3D Animation, which is pretty different to traditional and two dimensional animation. It is a little less time consuming, and I feel that I got the hang of it after a while.

Conclusion + Summary

I’m really satisfied with the 3D models, and I definitely learned a lot and learned about utilizing several different programs. Modeling was somewhat easy after a lot of practice, and I enjoyed it. Texturing was fun. The animation was pretty cool, and I think the motion capture was great. I’m happy I was able to develop my experience with the 3D realm of animation.