Shot Polishing

I have been adding the notes I got last class and I hope you guys like my shot.

Fired_Polishing

Thank you everyone for the amazing class It really teach me a lot and thank you Victor for teaching our class.

Merry Christmas!! 

That's all, folks!

Hi Guys, it was great to work with you all this session!  I enjoyed getting to know all of you and I was really pleased with the progress you made, right up until the last class!  You can feel free to keep posting stuff here, and I might even look at it...  I hope to see you all again in future classes, or perhaps even walking the halls at Pixar.  Please don't take my job, though!

-v

See y'all around!

I won't say goodbye because I know we'll all be hanging out in the new year, but I wanted to say a big thanks to everyone for a great class! I've taken several classes at AnimC, and this is hands-down the best group I've been a part of!

I really appreciate all of you guys sitting through my shot week after week and helping me make it something I'm proud of! All of you guys are so talented and creative; I can't wait to see more work from you all!

A big thank you, of course, to Victor for sharing his insights with us and taking time out of a very busy schedule to help us push our work to the next level. Not only do I feel like I've learned a ton more about animation in terms of performance and technical approaches, but I feel more confident in my choices and more comfortable pushing my shots further! And it was a real treat to mix some drinks behind the bar at Pixar :) I'll work on my cocktail skills for next time!

I'm not sure who all is taking classes next term, but you can usually find me at the TA desk!

Happy holidays and see you all next year!

K

Shot

On the off chance you guys still check this - I didn't get to show my other shot last night, so if anyone's around and has the time I'd love some thoughts! I finally got the IK worked out - had to re-import the characters and re-block everything, but it's working now! So sad class is over! Let's keep in touch!

London Shot

Because I know how much victor likes Robots..

Here's some real ones! We're living in the future! These are pretty crazy-looking!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25398416

Anyhow, I had a great time in class with you all, thanks for an awesome semester and what a fun send-off at Pixar! 

Take care!

-Nicole

Kathryn's new head gesture, misc polish

Hey guys!

Here's what I have so far. I'm still working on the arms - mostly because I'm dreading them!! I've been working on the new head gesture(s) for "...on myself that I thought for a second..." so hopefully those are reading clearly and the body is reacting believably.

Questions:

- is the blink f144-f149 unnecessary? Should she look down at the stirrer instead?

- I copied the Jaw Rx curve into the Nose Ty curve. It's currently on the same timing... I can't remember if it's typically delayed 1f or no.

- There's a little bit of head squetch peppered in on the antics and big vowel sounds. Too much? Too little? Just right?

- I'm not happy with the fact that her pupils are right in line with the top rim of her glasses at the end... should I lift her head up or kick her glasses down while her head swoops down on "shot" ?

Thanks!

PS - I might be a little late on Thursday depending on what time my apartment maintenance guys come by for their "preventative" inspection. I have to stick around because my dog will go nuts if they let themselves in while I'm gone :/ Hopefully they will come by early in the day and I will be in at my usual time! Either way, I will not miss our last class! :)


Misc Polish

Jackie- changes to girl in shot 1

Hi guys, here is my attempt to hit the notes on the girl in shot 1. I know it still has a long way to go, but any feedback at this point would be much appreciated. thanks!!

Tariq- Spline

1- 1st pass spline focusing on Body Mechanic and walk.
2- face still in blocking mode. I will spline it next step.
3- rough spline the Left Arm.
4- Right Arm still in blocking.

Hey Victor! I have a question, Can my wife join us for Pixar visit after class?

Fired_spline

Thank you,

Hey folks!

I'm still working on my current shot, and should be posting stuff for that tomorrow I'm hoping, but I figured in the meantime it would be awesome to get some more feedback on the first shot I did! I worked on it a lot before going to CTN so I'm pretty sure it's a version I have yet to receive feedback on from you guys so that would be rad. I feel like I could push the emotion coming through in the face, but I'm not too sure where as I don't want it to feel too busy. But yea! Any notes would be awesome! Thanks guys!

-Robert

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2BTckvOb8TleG5ORUFNeFNTOGM/edit?usp=sharing

Guitar shot from Nicole

Hi Everyone!

Sorry for all the posts, I'm trying to bust everything out the last week! Here's my newest version of the guitar shot, I tried to hit all the notes from class about adding elasticity to her face, getting more contrast into her last smile, and getting the arm/hand to not stay so locked. I still feel like there's this huge gap between the quality of my shot and the level of polish I want, but I'm not sure really how to get there.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwWMJcx-QogTcHQ3eXZCSjBRQTA/edit?usp=sharing

Thanks for taking a look!

-Nicole

Keith - Shot 2 Revision

I went back and took a little more reference for his reaction at the end of the shot to try and find a little more texture.  The take I liked the most ended up being a little different than my first few passes of blocking, but I think it still ends up in the same place, acting-wise.  I also toned down his head turn at "terrible" quite a bit.

Rough Spline Revision 2

So here's the original reference with the Modified Reference intercut for continuity.  For some reason I really liked building his tension and frustration just a little bit more before he finally processes what she's saying and then having that tension sort of melt away at the last moment.  I also like that there's a little more texture to the movement, but I'm worried it might be too distracting from her delivery.  I roughly blocked out the shaking on a different layer, so it shouldn't be too difficult to either tone down or take out completely.

I also worry that I'm changing the acting just for the sake of changing it, so I'm probably going to back off a little on this shot and try to polish the Fire shot as much as I can for a couple days.  I feel like with just a week left I'm starting to get a little rushed and I probably pushed into splines a little sooner than I would have because of it.  I'm starting to realize "finishing" the two character shot in a week is a little on the insane side, so I'd rather have at least one of the two in a good place before we're done here.

Anyway, thanks for taking a look!

-Keith

New version from Nicole

I tried to hit all the notes from class... am I on the right track?

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/33086071/044_Awkward_IP_workthrough.mov

Thanks,

Nicole


https://www.dropbox.com/s/fwygaor3a5f9ysh/044_Awkward_IP_workthrough.mov

Jackie- revisions to shot 3

Hi guys, here is my attempt to hit the notes on shot 3, particularly the girl's hip/ head/ arm gesture on "do it for me". Is this working better? Thanks for looking!

Nicole's Fix

Hello :) I wanted to hit my notes kinda quick so I could move on- anything else major that needs to change before I finish breaking it down and spline? https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/33086071/026_Awkward_blocking_BREAKDOWNS.mov

Jackie- rough 3D body blocking

Hi guys, here is my latest 3D blocking (body only.) I know a lot of this shot is going to come through the facial animation, so I'm moving on to that now. For this, I'm wondering, does it read clearly? Is the staging/ camera working? I changed both a bit. IS the dragon moving too much/ too little? I'm not married to the hand poses; I need to work them a bit more still. Also Robert commented a bit about the dragon's head nudge, is this working? Thanks for looking and see you all tomorrow night!

New Blocking

Here's my new blocking - took me a while to come up with different ideas. Not sure it works, so thought I'd send it out to the blog. I'm having a problem with switching between fk/ik Malcolm arm - if anyone has any insights I would greatly appreciate it. As you can see, when she leans against the door frame her hand slides right off instead of sticking. So, tell me what you think! Thanks!

Blocking

New shot Blocking

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Here is my blacking for my new shot, I used my approved reference for blocking and I change some, he is smoking Cigar. I opened the camera and i put another character in the foreground. I found this background i hope it works If not I will model an actually office.

let me know what you think.

Thank you

Blocking

Keith - Second Pass Blocking

So I took another crack at blocking out my second shot.  I tried to stick a bit closer to the reference for the acting beats for both of them.  I toned down some of his expressions from the first pass and tried to push hers a bit more.  I'm slowly learning what works and what doesn't for each model, but I still think some of the posing could use some work  The lip sync poses are a little off from having to shift around the timing a little in places, but hopefully you get the idea.

Also got a chance to rig that newspaper and do a bit better job of modeling and texturing the chair he's sitting in.   Hopefully it's a little less distracting now.

Anyhow, let me know what you think!

Second Pass Blocking

Kathryn's Spliney Splines of f1-65

Hey y'all! Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! I've been working on my shot phrase by phrase in hopes of getting it to around 80-85%. Today I worked on the first 65 frames, or the phrase, "I fell asleep watching the movie Amelie." I haven't polished the arms yet, so I took them off. If you'd like to see a version with arms, lemme know!

Any and all notes on eyes/brows/lip sync/head accents/body motion would be greatly appreciated! The eyes are probably where I've put the least amount of work in thus far.

Also, Victor mentioned that it might be helpful to parent the eye movers to a sphere or something to keep them locked in the correct general area... however... since the eyes move between the coffee mug, the coffee pot, and then the other character, I was wondering what the best method would be for doing something like that.... right now, the eye mover is just in head space....

Thanks, yo!

Red Wine Spline f1-65 (no arms)

Breakdown Pass From Nicole

I put them in an elevator- didn't have time to give him a jacket yet. I tried a version where she doesn't have anything to hold- I wanted to see if it would work without it so the hug awkwardness would be clear. But I tried another version where she's holding a folder, which I believe is better. I feel like I want it to be a bit more cartoony than it is right now- I think it can be pushed but I'm not quite sure how. What do you guys think?

Awkward Blocking

Awkward Blocking alternate with folder 

Jackie- fixes to 2D before maya blocking

Hi everyone, here are the changes I've made from the comments I got in class about shot 3, before I jump into Maya. I had a comment to make her nudge "more about the arm and less about the body", but I'm just going to fix that in maya, rather than try to re-draw it out here. It's mostly to hold her same body posture from 305-318. Let me know if you see anything else in this version, otherwise I'm jumping into Maya. Thanks for looking and Happy Thanksgivingukkah!

Kathryn's Semi-Updated Version

Hey y'all! I hope everyone had a fun and inspiring weekend at CTN!

I know we've all been lax about using the blog lately, but hopefully someone sees this before class tonight. I'm actually going to have to sit this week out, because I've done something to my left shoulder, and I don't feel safe driving to the East Bay - unless we can clear the highway of all other vehicles! Dana will open AnimC tonight in my place.

I also wanted to say thank you to Robert for taking the time to find a gimbal control for my character and making a Kathryn-proof tutorial so that I could find it! I've been rebuilding my original head poses with cleaner splines, working on getting the arms working, and dealing with the stirrer issue.

So, this is by no means close to where I want to be for class this week, but I am making progress and will push through the rest of the day and evening and hopefully post late tonight or tomorrow since Victor has given me some notes on expressions that I would like to hit.

Things I've done so far! :

1. Rebuilt the head poses and tried to break down some of the accents - still working on "that I thought for a second," since I have a head shake before that and then end with a big head accent. The head motion is very soft since I was mainly doing a clean-up pass on the new and not-gimbaled splines!

2. Working on getting the arms back in. After splining the body, the timing was a wee bit different, so I went back to my blocking pass and have been using that as a guide for the arms. Obviously I only got to about frame 85 before calling it a night last night.

3. Talked to Michal about the stirrer issue. I wanted the attitude on "Amelie" to have enough time to read, and to provide a rest before the big turn. I didn't like that the body and head were constantly swingin' around, and that it was a turn back before a big turn towards the camera, so the progression felt off (see, I'm learning things!!). So, Michal brought up a solution I can't believe I didn't think of... the stirrer should just be in the cup from the beginning! Duh! I'll end up putting a cup of stirrers next to the pot just for set dressing and so it doesn't look like it came out of nowhere, but I like his suggestion. So now, she only needs to do a quick glance to get the coffee pot back and then can just look down to make sure her hand gets to the stirrer.

4. Obviously still working with props/contacts/peels off/constraints/etc.

Sooooo it's a bit all over the place. This is certainly not my usual workflow; a result of the technical issues with the head. I'm looking to finish what I was doing with the head and arms the other night, and then push forward with a pass on the face and lip sync since Victor has been gracious enough to provide me with some notes on that already.


Ok, so I know what I need to work on with this pass, but just wanted to show some progress. Ideally I will re-post late tonight or tomorrow with my notes and Victor's notes addressed and then I can start working towards polishing!

I know you guys are sick of looking at this shot, but thanks for sticking it out with me! Sorry I will miss you all tonight! Happy Thanksgiving!

Update 11/21/13

Gimbal Question/Poll

Hey y'all! So I've been messing around with a clean copy of the Josie rig I've been using for my shot in hopes of finding some hidden control to help with the gimbal problem. No dice. The only sort-of solution I've found is to switch the head orient from world to chest... do you think it would be more work to counter the head to the chest throughout the whole shot, or keep it in world and muscle through using all three axis to get simple movements on the second half of the shot (after she turns around)?

Thanks in advance and thanks for all the notes in class! I know you're sick of looking at this shot! :)

latest version

Hey Guys! happy Halloween!!

I added my notes from last class and I changed the end, I would like to know your opinions!

Thank you  

Final polish from Nicole

Here's my latest version of the guitar shot, I tried to hit all the notes from last week. Anything else I need to fix or can I go ahead and move on to my next shot? Hope you all had a happy Halloween!

Final Polish

New Shot

So here are the quotes I was looking at for my next scene. I thought about focusing on one character, so the couple dialogues that do have two characters would probably have one facing away from the camera, like an over the shoulder shot. Though, I am open to changing that if the scene evolves that way. So, let me know what you think! Will come up with some blockings and see if anything really grabs me, but they all kind of have their own merits. Thanks!

Ideas For Shot #2

Since my flight was delayed and I missed class Monday, I thought I would post my ideas for the next shot here and try to get some early feedback on them.  I was hoping to go a bit more serious for this shot to round out my reel nicely.

Idea #1: 

Hopefully the reference here is pretty self-explanatory.

This shot is between two ex-lovers.  They've both hurt each other a great deal in the past, and they're attempting to hurt one another here.  Her first few lines are lies to provoke a reaction from him, trying to get him to admit or show that he still cares for her.  He's trying to be tough and assumes she's lying.  When he calls her on her lie, she reveals her true intentions, which in turn wounds him more than he expects.

There's a lot of subtle subtext in this one that I really love, but it's tough to keep everything straight sometimes.

Idea #2:

This one is a little less about performance and more about trying to visually tell a story, so I've spent a lot more time than usual trying to get the cinematography right.  It's not exactly my strong suit, so I'm excited to try to get this one right.

Here's the first draft of storyboards I drew up to sort of give you an idea of the camera angles I was thinking about.

Here's the same shot with some reference I shot superimposed onto the boards.

The shot is set in a hospital and a young man has just had his left arm amputated at the elbow.  He's very upset about losing a limb, and he's joined in the room by a visitor.  The visitor is attempting to relate and reassure him that everything is going to be okay.  The visitor knows this because he's suffered a similar injury.  At some point in the past he lost his right leg at the knee and now sports a prosthetic leg, which gives him a slight limp.

The idea I was going for was to slowly reveal to the audience that the two have something in common, and that the visitor's advice carries weight.  The very last shot is (hopefully) the ah-ha moment where everything is clear and we get to see and identify with the hospital patient as he watches the visitor overcome his handicap as he walks out the door. 

The line here is talking about perseverance and the struggle it involves, which I really identify with.  I thought a physical handicap was a good visual representative of the idea of struggle while still giving the impression that it's possible to overcome it.

Anyhow, let me know what you think!

Keith

Reminder: Class Monday Night

Hi All, just a reminder that we're meeting on Monday night this week, as Thursday is Halloween!  I hope you all can make it (though I see Kathryn can not).

Monday Night

Hey y'all! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get out of my shift at the restaurant tomorrow night, so I won't be able to make it to class. I'm still plugging away and have all Tuesday and Thursday to work on it, so I'll post something as soon as it stops looking like a spliney mess :)

Thanks again for all the tech help on Facebook as well!

K

Keith - Second Pass Blocking

Here's my second pass at incorporating the notes from last week and adding a few more breakdowns.  I hadn't realized just how much of it had changed until I looked at the version from last week.  Hopefully everything reads a little better.  I'm fairly happy with it all things considered. 

Second Pass Blocking

I'm hoping to push into splines and lipsync over the next two weeks until I'm able to show it again (I doubt I'll have too much work into it by Monday, might be able to get to some of the notes I get here by then).  I should have storyboards in place for a few ideas I have for the next shot by Monday.

In other news, I finally have an apartment!  So there's at least some good news :)

Another version from Nicole

I tried to hit everyone's notes, though I wasn't sure what shape to put the eyebrows in for the bits'n'pieces part so I just brought the inners up for now. Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

Latest Version

Some bad news

I got word today that my uncle passed away unexpectedly sometime this morning.  I'm not sure of all the details yet, but there's a good chance I won't be able to attend class this week because I'll be flying home to attend the funeral service. 

I'll keep updating in the comments to let everyone know for sure, but for now I would say to count on me missing class this week.  I'll be sure to post what I have on the blog for feedback.

-Keith

Nicole's latest

I'm still working on breaking up the movement and details, but I tried to hit the major notes as fast as I could. Anything else I need to change? I am struggling with making her feel more nervous, and am not sure exactly where to add ticks without making it feel too busy.

What I showed in Class

Latest Version

Lazzarini_trying out a few changes to my blocking

Hey folks!

So I did a few extra changes to my shot in the hopes of achieving a stronger performance. I really felt my shot was lacking personality and texture, and needed something more to get more emotion out of the character. While driving home from class and thinking about the Specificity Lecture Victor gave as well as the feedback I got from everyone, I felt that what was lacking was specifics which more obviously impacted my acting choices.

When I first approached the shot, I really only had her inner thoughts and emotions in mind, but not other specifics about the situation. Then I figured that since she is already wearing an outdoor jacket, and there are crickets in the audio track, she should be outside. And to elevate the stress of the scene, it would make sense for her to have to reject Tom's proposal while in a public place. Keeping that new element in mind, I tried to adjust her acting to show how the situation, in addition to the emotions she's already experiencing, impacts her behavior more visibly. That's what I'm going for here. I figured it was an idea at least worth investigating, so I revamped my initial blocking to get to where I am now. I also added a background and a couple lights to make it clear that she's actually somewhere where there could be other people about.

It's kind of a leap, but I'd really appreciate to hear what you guys think. If it's working better like this or if I should keep it simple and stick with what I had and continue from there, as well as any other notes you may have.

Original Shot
Revamped Blocking with added Specificity

Thanks a ton! I'm lookin forward to your feedback!

-Robert

Nicole's revised blocking/spline pass

I tried to make the changes from last class, let me know what needs improvement :) Also if any of you have costume ideas that would give her more character I'd love to hear them!

Revised Blocking

Spline Pass

Kathryn's Re-Block

Hey y'all! So here's a reblock incorporating Victor's notes and some of my original movements from my reference. I don't think the lean against the counter is reading as well as it could.... the next item on my to-do list is to get more weight into that.

re-block

Lazzarini_Blocking Edits

Hey there!

Thanks again everyone for the feedback last class! This week I've been working on implementing those notes into my blocking as well as adding a few other things.

In class we were talking about having her hand the ring box back at the end of the shot, and I like the clarity and timing of how that looks, but I also kind of like her going internal and just looking back at the ring then closing the box.

BlockingPlus Options

So pretty much I'm not too sure which way I should go on it, and if anyone has any input on what's working better or on any additional notes I could hit, I'd really appreciate it! Then from there I can start to add more detail and begin taking it towards polish land, having more progress to show on Thursday. Thanks a ton!

-Robert

Blocking and reference

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the late post, moving into my new apartment this weekend was pretty crazy. I'm going to be late to class tomorrow because of a wedding rehearsal also.

I cut the shot length down to 5 seconds. I've been thinking about the character/situation, and I settled on this, let me know if it's too much subtext/situation to be clear.

Write A Song blocking

breakdowns

To me, the heart of the shot is loving what you do but feeling like a failure. I think if I can make her honest and relatable in the way she pushes through her inadequacy to show what she's written, the shot will accomplish it's goal. I'm going for the feeling we all have right before we show our shots haha.
My character is a young singer, about to play a song for her band's lead singer/songwriter who she respects musically and is in love with. She's at his house for practice and he asked her to play her new song for him- she's self-conscious because the song is about him, but she is willing to risk exposing her romantic feelings because his opinion means so much to her.

The character is kind of a mash up of Juno, my band's singer Jared, and myself.

I cut together reference- my first take from last class, then juno (who I thought could be an inspiration), then more takes. I can't decide between these two subtext ideas:
 "I didn't want to show you yet.. it's no big deal..." or
 "I didn't want to show you yet.. but this song is about you..."

ref mashup

Here's a visual of the energy I think the shot's dialogue has.
One more thing.. I want to try and stay away from being too similar to this shot- I'd prefer for people to not compare me to something awesome they've already seen haha. Any ideas as far as situation/character goes to avoid being too similar? Or do you think my shot is different enough as it is?

Rock Star By Arut

My Reference Shots

Here's my references, I try to do my best to make it simple as I could, It would help me to know which one I should choose.
Thank you guys!!!  

More Blocking +Endings

So I started addressing the notes, shot some more reference, and came up with a couple ideas. Something someone said (can't remember who!) in class made me think to add chopsticks to the one girl to accent the difference in their personalities. If it doesn't work they're easy to take out, but I think it also gives her something else to do other than stare at her food like a moron. And thanks to my backwards recording video camera I just realized I also made her a lefty. This might create too much of a mirror effect in the girls, but I agreed with someone's comment that having their hands just hidden is not natural. I scaled them down, so hopefully they kinda work now. Also, I'm not sure I'm happy with the ending so I blocked out two other options and added them on to the end. Okay, will stop ranting now. Comments/feedback appreciated!

Jackie- blocking v.2

Hi guys, I've tried to address Nicole and Victor's comments. Any better? thanks! Jackie : D

Hanna - Dialog options

These are my top 2 contenders. I'm leaning towards #1. I imagine the kids to be off-screen and his reaction should be fun to animate.

Option #1

Option #2

Jackie- first pass blocking

Hi everyone, here is my first pass at blocking out the shot. Is it too busy? meaning, is there not enough eye direction? Are the acting choices reading? I figured I'd try to make it really sexy, and then I can dial it back if need be. Also, I've never really used Flipbook before, or tried to block a shot like this, for that matter, so if it's not working logistically please let me know. Thanks for looking! -Jackie

Lazzarini_Dialogue Choices

Hey there!

Here's dialogue I've found for my shot. So far I think I'm gravitating towards clips 1 and 2, but am not sure just yet which clip I like the most. Clip 1 sounds really sinister and threatening to me, and that could be neat to animate. And clip 2 has a lot of emotion and pauses that I could see adding visual interest and texture.

I do realize that we're supposed to keep the clips as short as we can, but I I did find a few extra clips that were a tad longer which I thought could show some more emotion and buildup. So I wanted to post them in case maybe they'd be better choices to animate. Specifically, clips 8 and 10.

Anywho, it would be great to hear which clips you like the most! Thanks!

High five!

-Robert

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2BTckvOb8TlX19Gd1FlSjhOQU0/edit?usp=sharing

Dialogue Choices

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/33086071/write%20a%20song_02.mov

What do you think? My favorites are the 2nd one (the girl talking about a song) and the other singing one (on this stage I learned to fly) :) Some of the choices I still need to cut down a bit shorter. Make sure to download the file off dropbox, it doesn't preview.

Made a quick little Facebook group for the class if you're interested...

I just wanted to have a place where we could all get a hold of each other easily for feedback, troubleshooting, inspiration, or just general chit chat without completely cluttering up the blog.

You can find the group here.  If I remember correctly, there should be a little button on the top right that you click to formally ask to join the group.  It'll be an otherwise private group, so only members can see posts.

Again, totally voluntary.  I just think it might be more fun to keep in touch throughout the week if we can.

See you next Thursday!

Keith

Welcome, Class!

Hi Guys,
This is a reminder to you that you can post your work here between classes.  I will be checking in and giving feedback as my schedule allows, and I encourage you all to give each other comments as well.  Since we looked at all of your reels in the last class, I suppose it's only fair if I show you mine.  I haven't compiled my MU reel yet, but I do have my very first work at Pixar (yikes!).

Pixar Training from Victor Navone on Vimeo.


Brave Reel from Victor Navone on Vimeo.


"WALL-E" Reel from Victor Navone on Vimeo.