Yaxin Hou – Page 4 – YaxinHou 3D Computer Animation Blog

Project progress-Rig and animation

This week’s task is to rig the main character and the doll, and then import them into different scenes for animation.

Due to time limitation, we will divide the work more clearly：

3D: this week to do animation, four days
From tomorrow to Sunday (3.1-3.5) finish the animation, Monday (3.6) start rendering plus post 7-14 rendering and post.
2D: do the first frame and footage 1. carousel 2. characters pose a movement for reference

About rigging

The work of rigging is done by Qiaoqing Yu, who needs to fix the position of the bones on the character model first, and then use ADV to complete the basic rigging, after which the weight of the skin needs to be adjusted, and this step is the most complicated, after many attempts to try again and again to complete.

About Animation

We divided a total of 16 shots in the animation section, and we were respectively responsible for the animation of three different scenes.

First frame: comic book (2d)
Second frame: shoot the gate camera from top to bottom (2-3s) to shoot the little boy walking into the gate (walk two steps, walk into the gate 2-3s)
The third frame: the boy walks towards the carousel and then stops (walk 3s + 2s after stopping)
The fourth frame: holding the rabbit in his hands very happy (4s, holding the rabbit in his arms)
Fifth frame: holding the rabbit in front of the merry-go-round and dancing around (small range) (5s)
Sixth frame: turn around and cover the camera from far to near and then turn the scene (3s)
The seventh frame: the camera close-up to the feet, from the feet to the house, (3-5s)
Eighth frame: give an empty shot of the crane room, from left to right (5s)
Ninth frame: still shot, close-up of the doll lying in the crane machine (3s)
Tenth frame: side shot of the little boy, close up (above the shoulders, head shot) (tilting the head and bringing it forward) (4s)
The eleventh and twelfth frames: two other shots according to the split screen (add subtitles, add voiceover) (5+5s+2s freeze frame) (the twelfth frame, the little boy’s hand lifts up and sticks to the glass, the doll follows suit.)
Frame 13: Far shot, amusement park gate, the camera pulls down and captures the rabbit in the beam of light. (5s)
Frame 14: close-up, the tattered rabbit (2s)
Frame fifteen: close-up, a hand holding the rabbit (two steps forward with the camera in first-person view, approaching the rabbit, pulling the picked-up rabbit closer to the camera) (5-6s)
The sixteenth frame: on the basis of the fifteenth frame, the subtitle (I will take you to home.) (3s freeze frame, end) about 1m10s, the end of the film 20s
The total length of the film is about 1min30s.

I was responsible for the 3th shot of the carousel and the 5 shots at the end.

The 3th shot of the action adjustment and modification

The adjusted 3th shot is a frontal medium shot

In addition, we are not individuals. As a group, we watch the preview after we make the animation, then we give each other comments, and then we make modification of actions and shots.

Week07-Adjust animation and camera settings1.0

Session With George

This week’s assignment was to make modifications to the feedback from the last week, along with the addition and deletion of new animations and shots.

About the modification of the animation & Camera

In the initial version, the action of this shot was too far off, so I rotated the model’s face a bit to the right and brought the depth of view closer.

In the previous version, both feet were shaking in sync. Now the movements of the left and right feet are done separately, with alternation.

The previous shot of this head bowed and crying was taken from the left. Now switch the camera to the right, and the first shot is the same direction, so that the shot is more coherent.

Video-Modified crying action

This shot removes the part where the camera moves and stays static.

This shot also stays still and adds motion

This shot, the right model changed three times, is to show the different images of the main character in the eyes of others. But no animation has been added yet.

Video-Switching of roles

Here the two shots are edited together because it is a coherent shot. The main character opens his eyes first and finds himself in the sea.

Video-Transition of the camera

The character in this shot walks from the left side of the camera to the right side, and then disappears completely in the shot. In my previous version, the character did not finish walking up this staircase, and the body was very straight and the animation was not natural enough.

The main character bowed his head and sighed, took a deep breath, and raised his head again for a long time I modified the action. The previous version is the following two pictures like this.

There may be a problem in adjusting the controller

At first I did not find this problem, after the feedback feel the model face is strange

Here is the animation video of this shot modification

I adjusted the face controller and now there are no strange facial hollows.

I Modified the action of deep breathing for a long time, but still feel that it does not show very vivid.

Feedback！

George suggested that the action of this shot changed to a foot shaking all the time. This better reflects the tension of the character, the current feeling is still too casual.

The place where this shot is switched needs to be changed. It is best not to pause, but directly from the opening of the eyes to the camera pulled away. Such a change is more visually appealing.

This shot should have the character go up the stairs from left to right. I did the animation of the right side going up the stairs until it disappeared, but the left side was not finished. It should also go from off-camera to on-camera from the left.

In fact, the ending part also has new feedback, because the ending part I have to redesign and modify again, so I have to modify the new ending before the next discussion.

Session with Nick

Project process – 3D scene model building 3.0

The aim of this week is to finish building all the 3D scene models, as time is very limited in the next three weeks.

About the building of the room of the crane catcher

The room of the crane catcher is a separate indoor scene, in which the main character saw the doll in the glass and became curious and asked if it would like to be friends with him. In the design of the scene, the most external is curtain, giving the room a sense of mysterious atmosphere. At the same time, we propose to add children’s interest to this room in addition to the crane machine, you can see a lot of gift boxes and children’s favorite toys on the left side of the room. The chandelier is the most distinctive part of the design and is meant to express a sense of fantasy.

Side view， there are many toys and gift boxes

3D model building about the gate

The gate was originally designed by a 2D member, and the 3D modeling was done by Yu and I. I did the top part of the gate, and Yu did the bottom part and mapping. To achieve a better visual effect, we do a lot of deformation in the parts of the gate model, so that it looks random, not board, it will look more lovely. The model of the cream below was more difficult to make, so it took a day to modify it and finally achieved the desired effect.

The first version of the base model of the gate

After adjusting the basic model, add more details to the door, and do the texture, lighting. But this is not the final lighting effect, we are currently just testing the visual effect of its basic model.

Combine the amusement park scenes and the gate together and place them in position.

The model of the house inside the amusement park was downloaded a long time ago, and I modified it here and made new materials and textures so that it could be more in line with the style of the amusement park.

The purpose of making these houses is to enrich the scene and to serve as a background when the camera is in motion.

Week06-First full version of the preview, feedback and revisions

Session With George

This week I finally edited a full preview video. I’m excited that this is the first time I can watch the whole story and shots in a coherent way.

About the first version of the preview video

So happy, finally finished editing

Feedback!

I organized the feedback into three sections, categorized by three different scenes. The first is about the camera modifications in the first scene.

The first thing that needs to be modified is the direction of the head, which is too far off.

The second part that needs to be modified

The third part that needs to be modified

Session with Nick

Project Process – Add new 2D design | 3D character modeling and scene modeling 2.0

The main task of this week is to continue to finish the 3D model. Also, since I modified the storyboard last week, We added new props according to the storyline, one is the gate of the amusement park, a bunny doll (complete/broken), a doll, the room with the doll catcher, and the carousel. Members of 2D draw new designs based on storyboard.

About the new 2D design drawings

According to the new concept, I looked for relevant references on the Internet

The main character’s design is experimented with in color

Two design options for the gate, we chose the second one

The original design in the amusement park, rotating rabbits

About 3D Character and Scene Modeling 2.0

3D modeling is mainly to continue to complete the model of the main character, as well as the three new scenes, the carousel and the room of the crane machine.

The new main character model is completed

The first version of the carousel is not using rabbits as props. It looks more ordinary, there are no features. Later, according to the new 2D design, I made the carousel with rabbits.

The third version, with texture, and the addition of new game props

The Ferris wheel and carousel were made by me, and the left game prop （Rotating Flying Chair） and basic horse model without texture were downloaded from the website.

Here is the download site：https://www.wmiao.com/

The doll is modeled by Tang， this is the first version

In the second version, the color of the skin and the length of the skirt were modified after the discussion.

The basic model of the crane machine， made by Tang

Week05 – Animation preview and camera setup of the main character

Session With George

This week I finished the animation preview and shot setup for the main character. Based on George’s suggestions, I also made some changes to the shots and movements of the two supporting characters.

About the main character’s shot

These are the shots of the main character in the viewing room

This is a static shot that will be cut in between shots of other characters.

A shot taken from the top overhead. I wanted to show a sense of pressing.

This shot is taken from the side, reflecting the psychological play of the protagonist and the ego

This static close-up shot is a transition shot that connects to the next scene.

These are the scenes of the main character in the sea

Connect the last shot, but have changed the scene.

A momentary pull-out shot shows the environment the main character is in.

In the long shot, a door appears from the sea. This shot pays respect to my favorite movie, The Truman Show.

For the last shot, I edited several shots together and the main character disappears behind the door.

This is the first version of the main character’s animation preview and shots. I designed the general movements and camera positions. The viewing room scene has 5 shots. The sea scene has a total of 11 shots, and I dropped two shots that did not work well in the editing.

Session with Nick

Week4 Defining and testing a research topic

This week’s course consisted of an introduction to the various parts of the topic. First of all, writing in academic language is required. Secondly, it is necessary to draw from reliable sources such as formal books, academic journals, and published academic essays.

Another important part is about the structure of the text. The structure of an essay is: Title: Subtitle, Acknowledgements, Abstract, Contents Page, Introduction, Main Body of Text, Appendices.

The most helpful content for me was the introduction to referencing. I formally understood the meaning of citation and referencing.

Citing – a means of referring, within your text, to the sources from which you have obtained information.

Reference – is the detailed description of the item from which you have obtained your information. Bibliography – is the list of sources you have used. The bibliography usually appears at the end of your work and is arranged alphabetically. As well as listing the references you refer to in your text, it may also include details of the material you have also read, which informed your opinion, but was not referred to directly.

Through this introduction I understand when a reference is needed and when it can be left out.

The second part is about the introduction of the article’s argument.

The key elements of an argument include the following:
Statement of problem
Literature review
Precise focus of your research stated as a hypothesis, question, aim, or objective
Method and methodology
Results/evidence
Discussion and conclusion (including implications for future research)

Project progress – Collaborative project presentation and storyboard revision

The 5th week’s assignment was a collaborative project presentation and a revision of the storyboard. I was the team leader and created the slides about our project presentation and presented it. In order to make our story concept and intention more critical, I made new drawings and story adjustments to the storyboard after discussing with my team members.

About the presentation

Here are the details of our project introduction

Collaboration-Unit Download

About the second revision of the storyboard

The new storyboard was drawn by me, because I wanted to make the story more reversed and critical. At the same time, I hope to draw the audience’s attention to those who are being bullied.

Story Concept ：Our project is a game promo with an anti-bullying theme. Therefore, our main character is a young boy who has suffered from bullying. Childhood experiences have a dramatic impact on the formation of one’s personality, and the main character of our story is a person with childhood trauma, whose personality has been distorted after experiencing bullying. We reflect his inner world through the two-dimensional illustrations, and the whole amusement park is actually a reflection of his inner world. At the end, the player picks up the broken rabbit doll that the young boy dropped at the entrance of the amusement park, and something is about to happen.

Week04 – Establishing Characters

Session With George

This week I started basic scene building in Maya, and did camera design and previews in three different scenes. My scenes are built according to the story. Since it was for animation preview, I didn’t give the scene a very elaborate shape and texture. My three scenes are a conference room for interviews, an observation room with a digital screen, and an ocean that symbolizes the inner world of the main character.

I mainly finished the scene building as well as the animation and camera production for the two supporting characters.

About the three different scenes：

This is the first scene, the conference room

The second scene, the main character’s viewing room

The third scene, the sea, the stairs and the door

About the character model：

The second role, she is also a supporting role

My story is more on the feeling side and somewhat abstract. My story doesn’t have a lot of character lines or narrative. So I needed the models to have facial expressions, so I went looking for model materials that could animate the characters’ faces. The character models were downloaded from the website for the purpose of action acting and camera learning for the animation preview.

This is the website address of the model ：https://www.wmiao.com/forum-cgmodel-1.html

The next is about the role of the camera and animation

Medium Shot

Close up shot

Close-up of feet and close up of face

There are nine shots of the two supporting characters, and I have selected four of them to show.

This is the first version of the shots, and I’m not quite satisfied. There may be some connection issues, but I also want to intersperse these shots with shots of the main character’s reaction. This needs to be adjusted together after I finish the main character’s shots.

Session with Nick

Project Process—3D character modeling and scene modeling1.0

Our main task this week was to complete the three models of the characters and part of the scene modeling.

About character modeling

The character modelling was done by Qiaoqing Yu of 3D animation, whose main reference came from Gou’s 2D character design and other costume and material references. As we like the character design of 【Identity V】 very much, we also referred to the style of it when we made the initial character model.

This screenshot is the initial stage of trying to model the character in Maya

This is the second version of the 3D character model that was completed with modifications based on the 2D character design.

About scene prop modeling

I was responsible for modeling the amusement park scene. Since the amusement park prop we are sure to use at the moment is the Ferris wheel, I made the model of the Ferris wheel. I started by finding some references of amusement park scenes so that we could further refine our 3D scenes.

These are some of the amusement park scenes I found from Artstation that were created by 3D artists.

The upper part of the Ferris wheel I modeled through the polymash of Maya

The bottom part of the Ferris wheel I made a high platform and steps, because the Ferris wheel is a distant view, need to be placed at the back of the amusement park.