Week 11 - Week 14 : 29 May 2023 - 9 Jul 2023
Tan Yi Yun 0345559Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Final Project
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FINAL PROJECT
In this project, we are tasked to choose an action sequence that involves
physical movement, such as a fight, chase, or sports-related activity, 5-10
seconds. We should find a video reference for that action.
Reference link provided by the lecturer:
We need to create a storyboard that visualises the key moments, actions and
emotion of the scene. From the reference, analyse the motion and identify
the extreme poses and breakdown poses. Do a thumbnail sketch of the motion.
Create a camera and stage the action for the final output while using
perspective as you are animating it. Make sure the continuity of the action,
and apply camera movement. It is all based on our creativity.
The submission should include:
1. Storyboarding - 10% (pdf)
2. Final animation - 10% (Blocking) + 10% (Polishing)
3. E-portfolio (Exercises, Project 1,2 & Final) - 10%
Reference
Firstly, I looked for the video reference from YouTube. In the video (Boyka vs Final Boss), 0.43-0.49 is the interesting part where the camera moves from far to close when the character is running. Then, the character shows a series of punching and kicking actions.
Boyka vs Final Boss Fight Scene - Accident Man Hitman Holiday
I also referred to the video below because the action is clearer.
25 Tricking KICKS | A Progressive Session
The Fundamentals - Running Long Jump Take Off
Key poses
I decided to create a series of action which the character runs first and jumps for two times. The next step is to extract key poses from reference video.
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| Figure 1.1, Extracting key poses from reference video, Week 12 (20/6/2023) |
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| Key poses, Week 12 (19/6/2023) |
Storyboard
The idea is simple. I wanted the character to run and jump (2 times), and the ending scene will be a standing pose of the character. The challenging part will be the camera movement. It is hard for me to imaging the camera movement from scratch. I looked for YouTube tutorials to learn the techniques of animating the camera. From there, I roughly developed a storyboard. The emotions that I wanted to convey from this cinematic look of fast-paced action are tension and courageous.
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| Figure 1.2, Storyboard 1, Week 12 (20/6/2023) |
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| Figure 1.3, Storyboard 2, Week 12 (20/6/2023) |
Stepped Key
We are asked to animate a blocking pass animation by keying the extremes
and breakdowns with "Stepped Key".
Steps: Go to Graph Editor, frame all by selecting "A", right click and
change the interpolation to constant.
Animating the character might be difficult, but thanks to the previous exercises, I am now more familiar with the body rigs of this character and it eases the process of animating key poses.
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| Figure 1.4, Stepped Key, Week 12 (21/6/2023) |
Stepped Key (draft 1), Week 13 (26/6/2023)
I then animated the running part before the character jumps. It was a bit challenging to make the action looks smooth because I did not have the exact same reference to refer to. I could only refer to two separated videos and combined the actions together. Initially I struggled to get the running poses right. After I figured out the running part, I was trying hard to make the character stepped into the position before he jumps. At the end, I found a better solution, which is to make the character have a slightly bigger step to land on the desired position.
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| Figure 1.5, Added a bigger step, Week 13 (28/6/2023) |
Stepped Key (draft 2), Week 13 (28/6/2023)
Spline Interpolation
From blocking, I changed the keyframes in Graph Editor to Bezier to turn the stepped keys into spline interpolation. I cleaned up the unwanted keyframes and added some keyframes when necessary to ensure the action is smooth in every frame.
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| Figure 1.6, Progress of spline interpolation, Week 13 (26/6/2023) |
Spline interpolation (draft 1), Week 13 (26/6/2023)
Spline interpolation (draft 2), Week 13 (26/6/2023)
Finishing Touch
I found a scene of underground garage in Cgtrader. We are allowed to use the available 3D files from Internet because it is not part of the marking requirement. The purpose of getting a good rendered scene is to enhance the visual realism and storytelling.
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| Figure 1.7, 3D underground garage model, Week 13 (26/6/2023) |
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| Figure 1.8, 3D underground garage model, Week 13 (26/6/2023) |
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| Figure 1.9, Character with the scene model, Week 13 (26/6/2023) |
Besides, I spent some time to experiment with the lighting, followed by the last step which is to add the camera movement. I did not want the camera to move beyond 180 degree rule although there is only a character. I wanted the camera to show the back view of the character in the end. I experimented with the camera angle and found that I could apply tracking shot camera movement that stays on the subject when it moves. I added an empty plain axes and let the camera track to the axes.
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| Figure 2.0, Lighting, Week 13 (2/7/2023) |
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| Figure 2.1, Camera tracking, Week 13 (2/7/2023) |
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| Figure 2.2, Camera tracking, Week 13 (2/7/2023) |
Finishing touch #1, Week 13 (2/7/2023)
After receiving feedback from our lecturer, I referred to some heroic poses to improve the last pose. I made sure the hand swinging is the same timing in both sides.
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| Figure 2.3, Sample heroic pose, Week 14 (3/7/2023) |
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| Figure 2.4, Sample heroic pose, Week 14 (3/7/2023) |
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| Figure 2.5, Fixing the heroic pose, Week 14 (3/7/2023) I also added a breathing part where the character's shoulder lifts, head rotates up and chest expands when breathe in, and vice versa when breathe out. It makes the character more alive because it is normal to breathe deeply after performing some extreme actions.
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Finally, I rendered everything using Cycles and it took a lot of time (definitely more than 5 hours...).
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| Figure 2.7, Rendering in Cycles, Week 14 (7/7/2023) |
Final Submission
Final Submission, Week 14 (7/7/2023)
FEEDBACK
Week 13 :
The stepped key poses look ok. Before the character jumps, the arms can be slightly bent to make it looks more natural. Enhance the hip up, or make the leg straight when there's a small jump to switch the legs. There is a part where the ankle has too much adjusting. When the character lands, the hip can be shifted to right and left again, just adding a few more frames to make the movements smooth. Overall is a good progress.
Week 14 :
Overall looks well-polished. Camera movement is good as well. The ending pose can be improved. The shoulder can be lowered down so it will not look too rigid. Maybe can the same timing on the hands movement. Can refer to heroic pose.
REFLECTION
In this action animation project, I aimed to create two dynamic action, running and jumping. The goal was to achieve smooth and visually impressive animations that conveyed a sense of heroism, and intensity. Firstly, I learnt to identify the extreme poses and breakdowns from the reference video of a professional athlete performing the actions. These poses are the foundation of the character's movements. After animating the character, I applied the camera tracking techniques that I learnt to synchronize the motion of the camera with the character, enhancing the sense of speed and dynamic movement. It is important in adjusting the camera movement to complement the character's actions while avoiding any unwanted distractions. One of the major challenges I faced is during the stage of animating the characters. The movement of character is quite complex and thus, I paid more attention on the rotation of the pelvis. Besides, I do not have a direct reference that have a combination of run and jump actions. Hence, I spent more time to experiment and see how the character can be animated from running action to jumping action. Adjusting the ease-in and ease-out of key poses is also a crucial aspect to ensuring the character's movement is natural. Finally, I overcome those obstacles and produced a work that went beyond my expectation.