Just got this competition from HooiLing.. its sponsored by Autodesk..
here are the details...
Panorama: Asia Pacific Animation Challenge 2009
i'll skip all the boring descriptions, conditions and eligibility thingies..
Qualification:
Animations completed on or after Jan 1 2009
Animations completed using Autodesk softwares
Production team could not exceed a total of 3 members.
Entries must be received on or before Nov.1 2009
skip skip
Judging:
- Main Category
- Bonus "Best Teamwork" Category
- Bonus "Best Rookies" category: voted by MEDC
- Bonus "Animax Extraordinaire" Category: voted by Animax
PRIZES:
- ONE team will be selected from each countries. The team will become finalists of the competition and awarded:
1. Free passes to the Asia Pacific Animation Challenge 2009 in HONG KONG
2. To take part in Animation Challenge Bootcamp, 4 days at the Hong Kong Cyberport from Dec. 11- 14. During the bootcamp, finalists will have the opportunity to improve their submitted animation and be mentored and taught by experts from Lucasfilm, Animal Logic, Rhythm n Hues, Imagi.
3. 1st prize: USD 1200 plus autodesk maya software + cert + trophy
2nd prize - USD 800 + . .
3rd prize - USD 500 + . . .
Best Teamwork Award - USD 500
Best Rookie Award - USD 500 (sponsored by MDEC)
Animax Extraordinaire Award - USD 500 (sponsored by Animax)
---
So here's our problem.. we are to choose THREE members to represent our team.. so hooi ling asked me to discuss with you all.. HooiLing also suggested that we let those currently not working to join, so that if we're selected for the bootcamp, it wouldnt clashes with our works too much.. but of course if we get the prize, we'll split evenly 8D
so what do you think..?
.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
12 Animation Principles, which one is most important?
Man, that's such a tough question.
The truth is that you can't single out any one principle as "the" most important. In the past, I've said that animation is kind of like golf. Have you ever tried to golf? Well, I'm not much of a golfer, but I've learned enough to know that there are dozens of important things to remember during a golf swing, and eventually -- after a LOT of practice -- all of these different things become second nature, and they all tie into each other to create one thing -- a good golf swing.
You have to have your toes lined up just right, you have to have your shoulders angled just right, your hips need to be in a specific spot, and you have to swing the club up to a specific height/angle during the back swing. You have to be holding the club in a specific way, and bend your knee in a specific way, and shift your weight from one foot to another mid-swing in a specific way. You have to have one elbow bent just so, and pull with one arm while letting the other drag and steer, and you can't take your eye off the ball, etc.
But at the end of the day, all of those things are really just ONE thing, right? A golf swing.
Animation is EXACTLY the same way. You have to remember anticipation and overlap. Arcs and secondary animation. Force and dynamic posing. Overshoot and line of action. You have to remember squash and stretch and weight & balance and path of action and a million other things.
In the golf swing, if you forget ONE of those things -- say you have your toe pointed in the wrong angle -- then guess what? The ball goes haywire and it's a bad shot.
Animation is the same thing. If you remember everything above, but forget anticipation, then unless the style specifically demands a lack of anticipation, the shot is just plain wrong. It's bad. Because of ONE thing, even though you might have great overlap, beautiful arcs, and the most dynamic poses ever - it's still a bad shot.
We spend a lot of time at Animation Mentor breaking down all the various principles and then showing how they all relate to each other and tie together and morph into one big thing called Body Mechanics, which is basically just the idea of what moves what in the body, and WHY. Overlap, overshoot, force, path of action, etc. -- these are all just different ways of describing tiny facets of what makes our bodies move without falling over, and just as with golf, there's no one facet that is more important than the other.
I wish there was an easier answer, but the truth is that animation requires a serious study of ALL the principles, and the only way to create strong animation is to become extremely familiar with all of them, and -- more importantly -- with how they affect each other.
Best of luck!
Shawn :)
---
Lol, sorry everything is written by Shawn Kelly from AnimationMentor, ILM animator. Not me XD Copy and paste ftw~
.
The truth is that you can't single out any one principle as "the" most important. In the past, I've said that animation is kind of like golf. Have you ever tried to golf? Well, I'm not much of a golfer, but I've learned enough to know that there are dozens of important things to remember during a golf swing, and eventually -- after a LOT of practice -- all of these different things become second nature, and they all tie into each other to create one thing -- a good golf swing.
You have to have your toes lined up just right, you have to have your shoulders angled just right, your hips need to be in a specific spot, and you have to swing the club up to a specific height/angle during the back swing. You have to be holding the club in a specific way, and bend your knee in a specific way, and shift your weight from one foot to another mid-swing in a specific way. You have to have one elbow bent just so, and pull with one arm while letting the other drag and steer, and you can't take your eye off the ball, etc.
But at the end of the day, all of those things are really just ONE thing, right? A golf swing.
Animation is EXACTLY the same way. You have to remember anticipation and overlap. Arcs and secondary animation. Force and dynamic posing. Overshoot and line of action. You have to remember squash and stretch and weight & balance and path of action and a million other things.
In the golf swing, if you forget ONE of those things -- say you have your toe pointed in the wrong angle -- then guess what? The ball goes haywire and it's a bad shot.
Animation is the same thing. If you remember everything above, but forget anticipation, then unless the style specifically demands a lack of anticipation, the shot is just plain wrong. It's bad. Because of ONE thing, even though you might have great overlap, beautiful arcs, and the most dynamic poses ever - it's still a bad shot.
We spend a lot of time at Animation Mentor breaking down all the various principles and then showing how they all relate to each other and tie together and morph into one big thing called Body Mechanics, which is basically just the idea of what moves what in the body, and WHY. Overlap, overshoot, force, path of action, etc. -- these are all just different ways of describing tiny facets of what makes our bodies move without falling over, and just as with golf, there's no one facet that is more important than the other.
I wish there was an easier answer, but the truth is that animation requires a serious study of ALL the principles, and the only way to create strong animation is to become extremely familiar with all of them, and -- more importantly -- with how they affect each other.
Best of luck!
Shawn :)
---
Lol, sorry everything is written by Shawn Kelly from AnimationMentor, ILM animator. Not me XD Copy and paste ftw~
.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
.: Ratatouille Progression Reel :.
Came across this interesting video of the progressions of Pixar's Ratatouille. Its a compilation of different stages of producing the feature film, including storyboard / 2d animatics, 3D previz/animation blocking, full animation, simulation, effects, lighting etc~
Enjoy!
http://movies.ign.com/dor/objects/834652/ratatouille/videos/rata_prog_reel_061307.html
.
Enjoy!
http://movies.ign.com/dor/objects/834652/ratatouille/videos/rata_prog_reel_061307.html
.
.: UP new Theatrical Trailer :.
A new 'UP' trailer just came out few days ago I guess, and i LOVE IT !!
looks like it's going to be a great show~ cant wait for the movie to be released~
here's the said trailer :
.
looks like it's going to be a great show~ cant wait for the movie to be released~
here's the said trailer :
.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
.: Tetsujin 28 :.
--
This looks like it's going to be great.. A full 3d-CG movie adapted from the classic manga, Tetsujin 28 or (Iron Man no. 28).
Official site here : http://www.imagius.com/t28/web/index.php
The trailer so far is great. Really looking forward to see the real movie ~!!
--
This looks like it's going to be great.. A full 3d-CG movie adapted from the classic manga, Tetsujin 28 or (Iron Man no. 28).
Official site here : http://www.imagius.com/t28/web/index.php
The trailer so far is great. Really looking forward to see the real movie ~!!
--
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
How Do You Improve the Arcs in Animation?
---
FIRST THINGS FIRST:
Before you go crazy improving any arcs, you must know that you need to work from the root of your character outward (pelvis » spine » neck » head). A slight change in the arc of the root may result in a big change in the arc of your wrist.
There are may ways of improving your arcs so I’ve broken it down to a few sections.
DESIGN:
The beauty of animation is you are the one in control, so why not take control over your arcs. They don’t always have to be your standard arc. Different arcs can have different feelings. So here are some things I like to think about when designing my arcs.
* Arcs should not all be the same. Think of different patterns and how they relate to each other. For instance, if you moved through a squiggly arc and then into a smooth arc, you animation may start off feeling chaotic and then end feeling calm or fluid.
* Like any design, angular shapes and patterns have a rough, rigid and maybe even a negative feeling as apposed to a smooth shapes and patterns may have more of a fluid, organic or positive feeling.
* There needs to be at least three frames (3 points) to describe any curve.
* Arcs can have a thickness to them as well. For example if you move your hand through and arc and your fingers are spread wide at the beginning and in the end, but are close together in the middle that arc will have a feeling of going from thick to thin to thick. When doing this its important to remember volume and anatomy.
DRAWING YOUR ARC:
When I think I have an idea for my arc, I plot it out on my monitor with a dry erase marker (for flat panels I may use a sheet of acetate over the monitor). I first plot out my start and end points so I know roughly how much space I’m dealing with and then I draw my arc connecting the two.
Remember, the more detailed your arc is the more frames you will need. For example, if you wish for your object to follow along an “S” curve you will need enough points to keep it from looking like a “Z” curve.
SPACING:
I think the thing most often forgotten when it comes to arcs is the spacing along the arcs. It's not good enough just to make sure that every frame follows the arc, but the spacing along that arc has just as much value. If the spacing is done incorrectly your arc may or may not read.
As a starting point, I think of my spacing along an arc like the coils in a slinky. If you were to stretch out a slinky along an arc, the coils would be closer to each other at the ends and furthest apart in the middle. When you move through the slinky from the start toward the middle, each coil (spacing) gradually gets further and further apart until it reaches its furthest spacing in the middle. From that point, the coils (spacing) get closer and closer together. Like I said, this is just a starting point, your typical arcs ease out, and moves through a breakdown to an ease in type of spacing. Quite often I will see two random coils in the middle of an arc very close together unintentionally, and even though the object is moving through an arc it still appears to pop because the frames before and after don’t lend itself to that spacing.
DRAG, SQUETCH (Squash and Stretch):
When moving through an arc it's important that any drag, or squetching we do follows that path of action as well. For example, in your standard bouncing test, as a ball stretches on its descent the line of action of that ball points back up the arc where it came from.
MOTION BLUR:
This may be a bit unnecessary to talk about and may even complicate things a bit, but when you get to that big studio it matters. Motion blur is like 5-year-old playing connect the dots. It will only draw a straight line from point to point. It doesn’t know to arc in between the dots. So this may or may not be another factor to the design and detail of your arc.
by Nick Bruno
AnimationMentor.com Mentor
Senior Animator at Blue Sky Studios
--
FIRST THINGS FIRST:
Before you go crazy improving any arcs, you must know that you need to work from the root of your character outward (pelvis » spine » neck » head). A slight change in the arc of the root may result in a big change in the arc of your wrist.
There are may ways of improving your arcs so I’ve broken it down to a few sections.
DESIGN:
The beauty of animation is you are the one in control, so why not take control over your arcs. They don’t always have to be your standard arc. Different arcs can have different feelings. So here are some things I like to think about when designing my arcs.
* Arcs should not all be the same. Think of different patterns and how they relate to each other. For instance, if you moved through a squiggly arc and then into a smooth arc, you animation may start off feeling chaotic and then end feeling calm or fluid.
* Like any design, angular shapes and patterns have a rough, rigid and maybe even a negative feeling as apposed to a smooth shapes and patterns may have more of a fluid, organic or positive feeling.
* There needs to be at least three frames (3 points) to describe any curve.
* Arcs can have a thickness to them as well. For example if you move your hand through and arc and your fingers are spread wide at the beginning and in the end, but are close together in the middle that arc will have a feeling of going from thick to thin to thick. When doing this its important to remember volume and anatomy.
DRAWING YOUR ARC:
When I think I have an idea for my arc, I plot it out on my monitor with a dry erase marker (for flat panels I may use a sheet of acetate over the monitor). I first plot out my start and end points so I know roughly how much space I’m dealing with and then I draw my arc connecting the two.
Remember, the more detailed your arc is the more frames you will need. For example, if you wish for your object to follow along an “S” curve you will need enough points to keep it from looking like a “Z” curve.
SPACING:
I think the thing most often forgotten when it comes to arcs is the spacing along the arcs. It's not good enough just to make sure that every frame follows the arc, but the spacing along that arc has just as much value. If the spacing is done incorrectly your arc may or may not read.
As a starting point, I think of my spacing along an arc like the coils in a slinky. If you were to stretch out a slinky along an arc, the coils would be closer to each other at the ends and furthest apart in the middle. When you move through the slinky from the start toward the middle, each coil (spacing) gradually gets further and further apart until it reaches its furthest spacing in the middle. From that point, the coils (spacing) get closer and closer together. Like I said, this is just a starting point, your typical arcs ease out, and moves through a breakdown to an ease in type of spacing. Quite often I will see two random coils in the middle of an arc very close together unintentionally, and even though the object is moving through an arc it still appears to pop because the frames before and after don’t lend itself to that spacing.
DRAG, SQUETCH (Squash and Stretch):
When moving through an arc it's important that any drag, or squetching we do follows that path of action as well. For example, in your standard bouncing test, as a ball stretches on its descent the line of action of that ball points back up the arc where it came from.
MOTION BLUR:
This may be a bit unnecessary to talk about and may even complicate things a bit, but when you get to that big studio it matters. Motion blur is like 5-year-old playing connect the dots. It will only draw a straight line from point to point. It doesn’t know to arc in between the dots. So this may or may not be another factor to the design and detail of your arc.
by Nick Bruno
AnimationMentor.com Mentor
Senior Animator at Blue Sky Studios
--
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
