Veronika's Blog
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Month: December 2022

Categories
Design for Animation

Week 10: Assignment preparation

Besides the Critical Report, for the final submission we had to prepare an audio-visual presentation which is an illustrative representation of our research objectives, findings and results.

Relevant contents for the presentation are:

  • Presenting the audience with a brief outline of the intention of the research
  • Briefly outline the information sources
  • Selecting the key areas of investigation that informed the findings 
  • The conclusion
  • Potentials for applying this learning and furthering knowledge in practice and/or theory

Unite Review

This unit has helped us to develop our critical thinking by constantly analysing animations and films from different perspectives. We learnt the ways to identify the experimental and documentary animations, break down the arch of the narrative and the archetypes.

The other important part of the unit was developing a research topic. We had a constant discussion with our professor and the students about our ideas that led us to realisation if they are relevant and how we can improve them.

All the learning outcomes as well as detailed structures have helped me to work on my Critical Report assignment and develop not only an interesting research topic that could be beneficial for the reader but also to write the report in the most constructive and accurate way.

Categories
3DCA Fundamentals

Week 10: Unit Review

This course have already gave me more knowledge about the 3D computer animation world than I could wish for. Before coming to the course I had almost no experience with any sort of 3D animation. But by the end of the first semester I have learnt so much that I already feel quite confident using the software.

Besides learning how to navigate the interface of Maya, what tools to use to create a model from a scratch and what editors can help to animate it, I have also learnt the basic principles of animation. In general, 3D computer animation fundamental classes were very helpful. Even though it was my first introduction to the 3D world and Maya in particular, the learning process was easy to follow. Yet, it was very challenging.

Knowing the interface of the software and basic principles is indeed important. However the ability to get a detailed feedback from the professors has definitely enhanced my skills. The professors draw my attention to the details of my projects that could seem irrelevant, yet every time it gave my work a huge improvement.

Even though I am still in the beginning of my learning process, I am very proud of myself for what I have done. I see imperfections in my past assignments which means that I am constantly growing in this field and with every next step the work will get better.

I am very grateful to be a part of this course and looking forward to see what will it bring next.

Categories
3DCA Fundamentals

Week 9: Movement animation

This week we had to animate a movement from a reference we picked. As a character we used a pre-made rig.

My first attempt:

This animation was lacking a bit of details. For example, the end of the foot that goes up was not moving, which made the animation movement seem less real.

As my second attempt I tried to pay attention to more details:

For my final animation I smoothed a bit of the end pose as well as removed first two frames on the hand movement, because it was unnecessary.

Categories
3DCA Fundamentals

Week 9: Finishing lip-synching

For this week I have finalised the lip-synch head animation based of the reference. Even though I have done a lot of work, such animation could never be perfect and there is a lot of room for me to grow.

Categories
Design for Animation

Week 9: Report Structure

This week’s class was about the report structure. For a clear and systematic structure should be evident, we can follow this example:

  • Title / Subtitle – a main topic
  • Acknowledgements – Optional
  • Abstract – a short summary of the dissertation
  • Key Words
  • Contents Page
  • Introduction – what the research is about, explain the context in which we are working, state the research question, and outline the ways the writing will answer them
  • Literature Review – to present the sources that have being used in the research to the readers
  • Chapters for main discussion – the key issues and strands that have consequence or relevance to the research enquiry
  • Conclusion – should sum up the findings of the research, and clearly explain an overall position
  • Bibliography
  • Image List

Categories
3DCA Fundamentals

Week 8: Body Movement

For this week we had to find a reference and plan an animation of a movement.

My reference:

I also sketched the most complicated parts to see where the main key points will be: