Rain, Rain, Go Away!

The trickiest part of this challenge was working out how to animate the rain! In the end I went and looked at My Neighbours the Yamadas for some clues on approaching it!

Animation Challenges: 3 - Scaredy Dog!

 

I wanted to have a go at animating a quadraped moving and turning around, and I also wanted to catch up on the Emotion Change challenge, so I included a change when the dog 'sets'. I decided to use a Preston Blair dog model so I could get animating straight away.

 

Here's the video I referenced.

Animation Challenges: 3

Here are the new challenges for spring 2013!

Beginner: REFERENCE

(the technical challenge)

Referencing is something most animators do not do enough of. We often dive in and presume we know how something should move. Referencing could involve finding an image sequence, video reference or even recording yourself. For this challenge you have the freedom to animate whatever you like as long as it is from something you have referenced. For example, animate a bird flying taking off whilst referencing a video of a bird taking off, preferably frame by frame. I would suggest avoiding rotoscoping because you will learn to see more when you can't just trace the action. All the great animators have done this and still do. It allows you to build a library of convincing actions and principles in your mind that will strengthen every subsiquent piece you animate. Remember, you don't necessarily need to copy every frame. Try to pick out the keys and extremes, and then breakdowns to guide you. Have fun and try something complex or challenging, you may even want to apply this challenge to the others.

Intermediate: REACTING TO WEATHER

(the performance challenge)

A lot of character is found when a character reacts. 'Acting is reacting'. Animate a character reacting to a changing weather condition. For example; it's snowing, it's cold, it starts to rain, the fan stops working during a heat wave. There are many ideas and scenarios to play with.

Advanced : DIALOGUE SCENE

(the acting to audio challenge)

Same as last tome. Animate to this slightly longer short audio clip.

Female character; ''Hey, I know you.''

Male character; ''Hello. You know me? Cool. I mean, yeah you do. Do you?''

Right click and download here

If you have any questions or technical problems just comment to this post.

Any form of animation is fine.

The next challenges starts 1st July.

... And remember you can still post any animation you have unrelated to the challenges.

Animation Challenges 2 - He's headed this way!

Here's a bow legged rampage for the technical challenge!

Animation Challenges

Animation Challenges 2 - Where are we?

Hey fellow Animation Challengers!

I decided to work backwards and start with the advanced challenge first. In this test, I wanted to have the character move around while delivering the dialogue, as in my previous lip sync tests, my characters were glued to one spot.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Animation Challenges: 2

Thanks to everyone that took the time to post for our previous set of challenges, its a positive start!

It seems the beginner challenge was the most popular so I have taken the difficultly of these challenges down a notch and focused on some less ambitious challenges.

I hope you all have a chance to join in again this new year and enjoy these new ones.

Beginner: WALK

(the technical challenge)

Whenever we animate a walk it is almost always from a profile view. Animate a character, human or animal, walking toward or away from the camera.

Walks are a vital skill for character animators. It should not be something you lack confidents with so it's always good to practice.

Intermediate: EMOTION CHANGE

(the performance challenge)

Some of the most interesting scenes in film occur due to emotion change. Animate a character changing from one emotion to another. You could choose anything from a close up showing just the face or a broader action with the whole body. Remember to check your animators survival kit, avoid moving directly from one emotion to another. Think about the reasons they are changing their emotion. An unexpected surprise, a slow realisation? 

There is no one way of doing this so have fun and try a couple of variations if you can.

Advanced : DIALOGUE SCENE

(the acting to audio challenge)

Same as last time. Animate to this short audio clip.

Male character; "Guys.... where are we?"

MP3 is recommend for best quality.

Right click and download here

If you have any questions or technical problems just comment to this post.
Any form of animation is fine.

The next challenges starts 1st April.

... And remember you can still post any animation you have unrelated to the challenges.

I finished it :)

So here is my contribution to the rowing assignment. After doing my grad film in ToonBoom, I wanted to try to animate the whole thing without linetesting it to challenge me to think more while animating and have more of a purpose with my poses (and no changing after linetesting—what will be, will be).

There are some quite obvious mistakes with the timing and spacing of the oars. It feels a bit like he is rowing in mud or something and then moving super fast back in the air. There is also some ugly mistakes with the arcs of them both right before it goes down into the water and in the water. The hands also goes out of their arcs as he reaches forward.

Oh well, hehe.. it was good fun to do. I want to do more of this in the future, and hopefully the next one will get better :)

Rowing through polygons...

First post here! Found time amongst film work to work on this. Feedback really welcome. Looking forward to doing more of these short tests, they really help to keep me on my toes!



Rowing Test Animation from Kat Seale on Vimeo.

Row Row Row... updated with dialogue challenge!

Done at work during a bit of lunch break and at the end of the day. Still quite loose but I don't really have the time to refine it any more. I used Toonboom for this one.

EDIT: video updated with dialogue shot. It felt like I chained myself down in the drawing, hope to focus on the animation next time.

And I couldn't have done it without the rower...

After doing some action analysis of the Olympics, I had a go at animating an olympic rower.

Animation Challenges: 1

Here it is! The first of our Animation Jumble challenges has begun.
There will be new challenges every three months. Have a go at all the challenges if you have the time or focus on one particular test to challenge yourself. The idea is to set more unusual and challenging challenges that push you to think and plan more. I deliberately didn't choose simple challenges like ball bounces, yawns and walk cycles for the 'beginner' challenges because I know everyone here has done them many times before.

So here they are;

Beginner: ROWING
(the technical challenge)
Animate a character rowing in profile or any other angle you like. The test can be a loop just like in a walk cycle. This test was chosen for the changes in weight and resistance as the oars come in and out of the water. It is a specific action which should require some research.

Intermediate: HIDE AND SEEK
(the performance challenge)
Animate a character hiding or seeking, or both. Focus on character. Think about why they are hiding or seeking to inject story into the performance.

Advanced : DIALOGUE SCENE
(the acting to audio challenge)
Animate to this short audio clip. Just like the 11 second club.
Female character; 'You know you're sweet. You really are!'
MP3 is recommend for best quality.

Right click and download here

If you have any questions or technical problems just comment to this post.
Any form of animation is fine.

The next challenges start 1st January.


... And remember you can still post any animation you have unrelated to the challenges.