Reflections: Week Four Onwards

I haven’t updated my blog for a while for personal reasons and also because I did spend quite a long time waiting for the Guard and Breadbeard Rigs. The first scenes that I tried were the hit by lightning ones because once I have finished the movement it will be possible to move the camera from the side shot to closer in and not have to repeat or create more animation. This means that I can complete two scenes in one go.

I did have a bit of trouble with his arms as I timed it using the team’s animatic and this made his arm movement erratic and too fast. I then did a couple more tests where the arm movements are smaller but faster, and also animated the hand as this made it look more realistic and also gave the movement follow through and over lapping action.

However, I found out afterwards that Tom from the third year has also created a version of this scene, but I am unsure about his version too because it his very basic jittery movement and it changes between three poses without much flow. I will therefore will try and find a balance between my own attempt and his. Hopefully a combination of the two will look right for the Guard. I am unsure if my scene will be used in this case, but at least I will have more to show for my project this term and hopefully I can create something that will look good on my Portfolio DVD and maybe even my showreel to send to prospective employers.

I have a deadline of Friday for all of my scenes to be completed, so here is my plan for the week. I am going to put my own work aside for the week and obviously concentrate on the Pirates scenes to get them completed on time. Wow a week for all of the scenes… and I don’t have Walker yet!

Schedule:

Monday:
Finish Breadbeard’s expressions Sword Pull Scene
Finish expressions Guard and Breadbeard face off (I have already done the lip sync for the Guard)
Basic block out of movement for the beginning of their tussle
Tuesday:
Guard Electricity scenes
(finish movements of Guard and Breadbeard scene if I hear back about ending)
Wednesday:
Hopefully I will have Walker by this stage, so the Canon scene
Sword hitting the Boat scene (this shouldn’t take too long)
Thursday:
Touch Ups!!! Make sure everything flows smoothly, is timed well etc etc
Friday:
First thing in the morning, send all the files to the Team!


I have completed all of my aims for Monday and feel if I push myself this week I will finish them all on time. I just hope I can get Walker soon as I could even complete that Tuesday evening.

Positives for the last few weeks:
I have carried on with my Mr Bean Walk Cycle
I have also learned how to create the DVD for my project and feel confident with the work I will put on it
Started collating my drawings and photography for galleries on the DVD, as well as started converting my videos into MPEG-2
Although my Guard scenes that I have been working on the last few weeks will not be used, I have learned the capabilities of the rig and I am getting quicker at animating with him.

Negatives:
I have only just got Breadbeard and I want Walker!
I have to redo the electricity scenes, especially as the claw is now in the other hand to the animatic so I was animating the wrong one L
I haven’t been able to do much therefore for the Pirates film, and started losing a bit of my positivity towards the term’s work, this has returned since I got Breadbeard however and I have enjoyed animating with him.

After this week, I will have about two or three weeks to concentrate on my Showreel DVD, which is great as it will give me plenty of time to put some great work on there.