Hogan

Hogan is our most advanced model yet, mimicking the human body the closest, not being particularly limited in the traditional sense.  He has a fully adjustable face and human limbs that can move, so human acting is perfectly possible, though one notices difficulties at times with certain poses and mannerisms.

Our first assignment involved learning how to pose the character, so we were told to set him up in seven different poses.

The second assignment involved an understanding of weight, so we had to have him subtly shift his weight from one leg to the other.

And thirdly we had to animate him performing a more extreme motion, in this case I chose a kick.

Floursack

This week we have been working with a new rig, one resembling a floursack.  It has been the most complicated thing to animate yet, with alot more points of control and joints, meaning alot more to keep track of.

The first scene involves a simple drop from a height.

The second scene consists of a jump cycle.

The third scene is my favorite, as it features the floursack invoking a personality and mood, in this case an old man.

3 Balls to Music

Our last assignment this week involved us animating to music, something that I always felt was enjoyable.  It had to be an 8 second track and feature 3 spheres dancing/moving to the music.  After some consideration I chose the fan made re imagining of Banjo Kazooie's Rusty Bucket Bay level's theme from youtube as my track, mostly due to the very different sounds being played at the same time and thus being able to cast each ball to one of them.  The whole song can be heard here.

Luxo Lamp Jr

This week we were given a more complex character than a simple sphere.  Luxo Lamp Jr seems to be the the equivalent of the flour sack exercise in 2D animation, where you have a simplified character that can do basic pantomime and give you a chance to experiment with the tools given.


The first exercise required a simple hop cycle featuring the lamp, but the second one involved it reacting to something and having a 'take'.



And below is the original Luxo Lamp Jr short, the one that inspired every CG animator since to practice with a similar model.

Bouncing Balls

This is my proper introduction to the world of computer animation.  I have to say, I'm really seeing the possibilities and the appeal of such software.

The first ball in the video is a redundant bouncy ball that bounces indefinitely.  The second segment features three balls, each composed of a different material which are in the order from left to right: rubber ball, bowling ball, beach ball.  In the third and final sequence it invokes acting by the ball, thus living, and has him be rudely awakened by his alarm clock.  The sound effects were not present in the proper dailies.

Looking forward to delve into the software more in the coming months.