Advanced Animation: Final Project
08.07.2024 - 28.07.2024 / Week 11 - Week 14
Sylvia Lau / 0356130
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Advanced Animation: Final Project
INSTRUCTION
Final Project: Physical Action Sequence Animation
We were able to choose an action sequence that involved physical movement, such as a fight, chase or sports-related activity and find a video reference for that action. Then, create a storyboard that visualises the keymovements, actions and emotion of the scene. Incorporate variety of camera shots, angles and visual continuity to enhance the visual storytelling.
Sylvia Lau / 0356130
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Advanced Animation: Final Project
INSTRUCTION
Final Project: Physical Action Sequence Animation
We were able to choose an action sequence that involved physical movement, such as a fight, chase or sports-related activity and find a video reference for that action. Then, create a storyboard that visualises the keymovements, actions and emotion of the scene. Incorporate variety of camera shots, angles and visual continuity to enhance the visual storytelling.
Action Animation Ideation:
From the information given by my lecturer, he suggested a youtube channel which was Motionactorinc, where we could find relevant pose references as a guide. From the video lists, I found three action pose that I could use in my animation.
Since all of the videos above were short and only about 3 to 4 seconds, so I was planning to combine them all in my animation. Starting with a warm up action, followed by the punching and kicking poses. I then combined the videos in Premiere Pro but the timing was about 12 seconds, so I decided to take the second video out, only remained the kicking action.
Progress:
Figure 1.1
After importing the videos into Blender, I set the posture according to the reference.
Figure 1.2
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Figure 1.6
The first action involved placing a hand on the shoulder and then turning the head twice, to left and right.
Figure 1.7
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Figure 1.14
Following this were three punching motions. Since these actions were somewhat repetitive, I initially tried to copy and paste the keyframes. However, the movements were very choppy and lacked fluidity, so I ended up redoing them from scratch to ensure smooth transitions and natural motion. This process involved carefully adjusting the timing and positioning of each keyframe to achieve the desired effect.
Figure 2.1
Since the two reference videos are different, after the previous action ends, I need to devise the next movement myself to ensure a smooth transition between them.
Figure 2.2
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Figure 2.5
After setting the ready pose, the next action was to take the first step. Due to the video reference showing very quick and agile movements, I placed the keyframes very closely together to capture the speed and precision of the motion accurately.
Figure 2.6
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The above actions involve kicking. The first kick is with the right leg, and the second kick is with the left leg. When kicking with the left leg, there were two kicks: one lower and the other higher.
I found this part of the animation to be the most challenging because, previously, I only needed to adjust the upper body. However, for this sequence, both the upper body and the lower body's movements required numerous adjustments. Due to the large range of motion, I needed to ensure that the character's movements were natural and fluid. This required careful tweaking of the keyframes to maintain a smooth and realistic flow, especially given the significant twisting motion involved.
Graph Editor Adjustment:
Figure 3.1
Figure 3.2
I showed the above progress to my lecturer, and he provided feedback that some movements were a bit stiff. He recommended using the graph editor to adjust and improve the fluidity of the actions. This involved refining the motion curves to create smoother transitions and more natural movements.
Camera Adjustment:
Figure 3.3
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Figure 3.7
After completing the animation, the next steps were background setting and lighting. Following that was the camera angle setting. Initially, the angle would capture the character's back, gradually moving to the left. Then, for the punching motion, the camera angle would shift to a front view to emphasize the action. For the full-body actions, I would use a 3/4 angle to capture all of the character's movements. Finally, the animation would end with a front view of the character as the closing shot.
Figure 3.8
After setting the camera keyframes, the result was very shaky, so I needed to use the graph editor to adjust the smoothness of the camera movements. I struggled with this part for a long time because no matter how much I adjusted it, I couldn't achieve the desired smoothness in the animation. After spending a considerable amount of time refining the movements, I managed to improve it significantly. However, there are still small sections where I can't get the camera to capture the exact angles and stability that I envision, despite my best efforts.
Final Submission:
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