animatin test - tracing 3d

I have been having some trouble trying to find a animating technique and style that I am happy and comfortable with. This time round I have tried frame by frame animating, using a 3d model as the basis for the characters movements. I am really happy with the look of this animation test, the only downfall is it is extremely time consuming, and also means that the characters animation also needs to be plotted in 3d. Erlack. What a lot of work!

week 12- synopsis re-revised

concepts

"Life would lack poignant drama without the use of imagination and we probably would not have the courage to follow our dreams and desires. Without imagination we would be condemned to live a purely instinctive life. We would still be deficient in social compassion and empathy. We would have no thought of the great beyond and never contemplate our existence."

"The man who has no imagination has no wings." – Muhammad Ali

There is a creature sitting alone on a busy street. people pass him by, all blurs of motion, no one notices or acknowledges him. No one can see him. This is because he is what the world considers not real, imaginary in fact. Imaginary, yet he is as real though perhaps to most unseen. He comes and goes out of peoples lives, he is what we fathom an imaginary friend. Not a fictional character created in the minds of young children out of boredom or loneliness, but a creature as real as you or I, visible to any such mind that is willing look beyond the convention, the set and the routine. They might not linger forever, but they are an accompaniments to life that are not always understood.

synopsis 1

Moving away from the typical concept of an imaginary friend, the protagonist acts as the creator or more accurately the instigator of the imagination. He is a tall slightly obscure looking being, with a solitude persona. He walks down a bland darkened grey street, people are walking by and alongside him, yet none are aware of his presence. He goes unseen and is unbothered by this as if the is the only one around.

He comes to a bridge and begins to cross, his finger trailing across the rail. As his finger glides across it leaves a yellow streak on the bridges wooden railing. A young boy at this point is noticed following him. The imaginary friend comes to a halt at the very peak of the bridge. He turns around a greets the boy. The boy stares at him, baffled and a little scared. The imaginary friend stares back. As he stares he holds out a closed fist. The boy watches, curious yet weary of the strange beings behavior. Slowly the protagonist opens his hand to reveal a small seed. The boy attention is fixated on it, and slowly the seed begins to glow, as it does the surroundings begin to change. Nature begins to spurt from the bridge railing and colour begins to seep into the otherwise dreary environment. The protagonist closes clenches his fist, as he does the nature recoils back and disappears. To the boys astonishment the protagonists holds out his hand once more in a manner that indicates for the boy to take the seed from him. The boy is reluctant, but the protagonist quietly insists. The boy holds out his hand and the seed is exchanged. As the seed touches the child's hand the expression of the creature changes from its gentle yet placid nature to one much more callous. The protagonist then disappears into the vastness. The boy looks around confused, only to realize that he is now the keeper of the seed. As he begins to walk, he notices a yellow line is trailing behind him, and now he goes unnoticed by the passerby.

synopsis 2

v_01

- being moves through the streets stealthily yet cautiously.

- he moves through people and people move through him, as he is not human, they can not see him.

- he keeps on moving through the streets searching for something, the whole time clasping something in his hand.

- he comes to a bridge in a more desolate area.

- he begins to cross

- at the top he comes across a boy who can see him.

- he looks back over his shoulder, as if paranoid.

- he stares at the boy, the boy stares back

- he holds out his hand to reveal the seed

- the environment begins to change

- he closes his hand and the environment recoils

- he urges the boy to take the seed, ever second becoming more and more scared

- the boy takes the seed, and just as he does the being is pulled by a dark force and disappears

- as he disappears he smiles at the boy

- the seed then erupts and blackness engulfs the screen

v_02

Moving away from the typical concept of the imaginary friend, the protagonist acts as the creator or more accurately the instigator of creativity. He exists in a human form, but is not human, or at all from this world. He is a tall slightly obscure looking being, with a solitude persona. He moves through the dreary darken streets, people are walking by and alongside him, yet no one is aware of his presence. He goes unseen by all, people walk straight through him, as he moves stealthily through the streets. He moves with purpose and a slight sense of urgency as he clasps something in one of his hands at his chest.

The protagonist seems to be looking for something, or someone, what exactly is unknown to the audience. He stealthily moves through the environment, eyes always scanning for something. He comes to a bridge and begins to cross, his finger trailing across the rail. As his finger glides across it leaves a yellow streak on the bridges wooden railing. A young boy at this point is noticed following him. The imaginary friend comes to a halt at the very peak of the bridge. He turns around a greets the boy. The boy stares at him, baffled and a little scared. The imaginary friend stares back. As he stares he holds out his hand to give the boy something. The boy is reluctant at first, the imaginary friend nudges forward, reluctantly the boy holds out his hand to accept.

The protagonist hands the boy what appears to be a seed. And taps the boy on the forehead. As the boy opens his hand the world around him begins to change. nature begins to spurt from the bridges railing anding color to the otherwise dreary scenery. creatures like fireflies begin to form around him. The boy looks around in awe. The imaginary friend smiles watching the boys contentment. A slightly sly look upon his face. A bit of time passes and the boy clasp his hand shut. Everything recoils. While the boy is consumed with the world that he is experiencing the protagonist has a slight suspicious look on his face, he is happy but still concerned over something. Content with his experience he snaps back into reality to hand back the seed to the protagonist, just as he does how ever, something snatches the protagonist and he disappears. Just as he is being pulled away he smiles sweetly at the boy, the seed has been passed on and is safe. Just as this happens darkness erupts from the seed and the screen in engulfed by blackness.

v_02 background story

In this version the protagonist is a being that acts as the keeper in a way of creativity and imagination. If i was to create a back story to him, he would be a character that holds the key to a power force, the imagination. Possessing it in the form of a seed, he is being chased down by a foe that wither wants or want to heed him from passing on creativity. He is a character that is placid, yet gentle. He is not easily angered and is concerned more so about passing on this powerful gift that his own survival. This is what he is trying to do in this narrative. He idea is that he can only be seen by children, although he is an entity in this world, he is what we would most closely identify as an imaginary friend. Childrens minds as they are in developing stages are often more open to strange and absurd concepts. This is why he had to wait till he found a child that could see him before he could pass the seed on.

questions/comments/concerns

- is the appearance of the child too random?

- does the beings disappearance need to be further explained?

SOUND - DRAFT 1

SOUND - DRAFT 2

SOUND - DRAFT 3

Week 11

CONCEPT REVISED

"Life would lack poignant drama without the use of imagination and we probably would not have the courage to follow our dreams and desires. Without imagination we would be condemned to live a purely instinctive life. We would still be deficient in social compassion and empathy. We would have no thought of the great beyond and never contemplate our existence."

"The man who has no imagination has no wings." – Muhammad Ali

There is a creature sitting alone on a busy street. people pass him by, all blurs of motion, no one notices or acknowledges him. No one can see him. This is because he is what the world considers not real, imaginary in fact. Imaginary, yet he is as real though perhaps to most unseen. He comes and goes out of peoples lives, he is what we fathom an imaginary friend. Not a fictional character created in the minds of young children out of boredom or loneliness, but a creature as real as you or I, visible to any such mind that is willing look beyond the convention, the set and the routine. They might not linger forever, but they are an accompaniments to life that are not always understood.

synopsis 1

The imaginary friend sits on a bench on a busy street. People are busy rushing around with their daily routines. No one stops or even bothers to look at him. No one can even see him, they are blind to his presence. There are many other imaginary friends on the street, all with a partner of some sort that can see them. But this one imaginary friend stands alone, desolate, despondent, rejected. He gets up and begins walking. He comes to a bridge and begins to cross it. Halfway across the bridge he mets a boy. The boy stares at him. He stares back. The imaginary friend puts out his arm and hands the boy something. It is a seed. When the boy opens his hand and looks at it the environment around him begins to change. Nature begins to spurt out from every crevice. He clasps his hands shut again. The nature recoils. He once again opens his hands, this time lets the nature take over.

ending?

- the boy develops wings and flies over the city (muhammad ali quote)

synopsis 2

Moving away from the typical concept of an imaginary friend, the protagonist acts as the creator or more accurately the instigator of the imagination. He is a tall slightly obscure looking being, with a solitude persona. He walks down a bland darkened grey street, people are walking by and alongside him, yet none are aware of his presence. He goes unseen and is unbothered by this as if the is the only one around.

He comes to a bridge and begins to cross, his finger trailing across the rail. As his finger glides across it leaves a yellow streak on the bridges wooden railing. A young boy at this point is noticed following him. The imaginary friend comes to a halt at the very peak of the bridge. He turns around a greets the boy. The boy stares at him, baffled and a little scared. The imaginary friend stares back. As he stares he holds out his hand to give the boy something. Reluctantly the boy holds out his hand to accept.

ending?

As the boy opens his hand the world around him begins to change. nature begins to spurt from the bridges railing anding color to the otherwise dreary scenery. creatures like fireflies begin to form around him. The boy looks around in awe. The imaginary friend smiles watching the boys contentment.

-A bit of time passes and the boy clasp his hand shut. Everything recoils. Content with his experience he hands the seed back to the imaginary friend. Surprised the imaginary friend indicates that the boy keep it. -The boy instead gives it back and takes hold of the imaginary friends hand and they walk away together.

- The imaginary friend and boy leave and go their separate ways. The boy still holding the seed.

-It becomes to powerful and creatures that the boy can no control start to emerge. The imaginary friend takes the seed back off the boy, and then keeps walking leaving the boy standing on the bridge.

ending?

The imaginary friend holds out his hand and as he produces an item all the street lights flicker. A little creature emerges from his palm. It flies around the boy. The boy looks at it it awe. The it comes to rest on the imaginary friends head, who picks it up and gives it to the boy. The imaginary friend provided the boy with his own imaginary friend. The final scene is the boy holding the creature up, however in the final shot you see the boy holding up something, but his hands are empty.

parent could come and pull the child out of the world that he has created. the boy however is still holding the seed. The imaginary friend waves by to him, the boy waves back his hand firmly clutched around his present.

Week 11

ANIMATION TEST

Played around with colorizing the background and adding a scratchy effect to the background.

BG DEVELOPMENT

SUB/BG CHARACTERS

Week 10 - animation tests 3

Rough scene animation test. This was put together to get a feel of how the environment will turn out once in after effects. The 2D elements are arranged and animated within after effects 3d space. From this test I discovered that I need to alter the images so that they can adapt to the 3D environment.

I also played around with using the lighting tools that are available, and particle effects.

Week 10 - animation tests 2

Here is an initial walk cycle. His body has been created in as several objects i.e hands, arms, face, upper / lower leg etc. each part is then animated in after effects to create the walk. I have chosen to utilize this form of animation, as it is less time consuming than frame by frame. Also I really don't know if i have the skill-set to draw smooth frame by frame.

The next step is to try rigging the character in after effects using reverse kinematics.

Week 10 - animation tests

This animation test was made to get an idea of how the characters facial texture would render out as, also to start having a look at movement, and expression. The idea is that the overall structure of the head will be moved with the puppet tool, while facial expressions such as mouth and eyes will be frame by frame.

I will hopefully add a more completed animation test of his face tomorrow.

Week10 - environment development

ENVIRONMENT 1 PROGRESSION:

This is the first draft of environment 1.

I have started with a greyscale digital painting, roughing out the buildings and then commences with adding details to the facades.

I played around with adding textures, to get a feel for how the environment might end up. As the character designs are going to be highly textured, I want to create a background that compliments the detail.

I added in some colorization, cloud images and character design to get a further feel for the environment. I want the reality of our world to be intertwined with the world of the imaginary friends, so i am going to create elements in the environment that are similar to the clouds in the draft below. These include, clouds, trees, lamp post thus far.

The scene is starting to come together in the final image. I extended the plane so to incorporate the bus shelter as it is a key object.

Week10 - character sheets

Character sheets

Week10 - honours-a-go-go

Okay here i go,

Honours so far has not been a pleasant experience, i struggled from the start with a concept and narrative that i would be happy with, and even now in week 10 am still not satisfied. I had extremely fluctuating motivation and contemplated quitting several hundred times. However, i have decided to go ahead with it, despite being about 8 weeks behind!! There is a damn lot of work ahead of me, so i have decided to blog my daily progress to help keep me on track.

THE IDEA THUS FAR:

My honours project is an animation based around an imaginary friend. The idea is that imaginary friends are real and not at all creations of a childs imagination. And that they wonder around looking for children to connect and become friends with because they are lonely, basically the opposite of what we believe imaginary friends to be. The animation follows one such imaginary friend. It begins with him in his own world, a desolate place where Imaginary friends go to when they do not have anyone to play with.

So it starts of with the imaginary friend sitting on a bench all sad, he has lost a friend, a photo of the friend and him gets blown away by the wind, and then the shots changes to him sitting on a bench in the real world.

Its a busy street, with lots of people walking by, but they are all blurry and none of them can see him. he is all sad until finally he sees a little boy walk by, he tries to get his attention but the boy cant see him, he runs after the boy and tries to get his attention 2 more time, doing stupid and retarded things, creating multiple arms and heads on himself. But each time the boy keeps on walking past him. Rejected he walks away, but stops suddenly. He turns a round and a little girl is holding one of his hands, she looks and him and smiles. She is the only one that can see him, and he reels in his arms and hugs her.

ROUGH ANIMATIC:

Rough cut of animatic, with placeholder music. Music is currently in production, hopefully sample draft by next week.

I really have to start looking at ways of adapting, and fixing the narrative, atm it is too weak and has too many unresolved issues.

- how can you tell that the imaginary friend is imaginary as opposed to a normal person, or ghost, stalker etc

- little girl has no real relevance.

- issues on scenery, why this area

- decide/design what intriguing attributes the IF has

These are some of the issues I want to try to resolve before week 11 commences.

Week 3- character sheets

Week 3

IDEA #3:

THE IMAGINARY FRIEND:

the story of the imaginary friend. we always think that children create imaginary friends because if issues of loneliness or acceptance, have we ever stopped to consider that these character that these characters that we think children develop in their minds and actually real. That perhaps they are the ones that are lonely and befriend children to keep them company.

A story about the imaginary friend and the world that he dwells in. What gives in order to maintain a friendship that never really last.

- imaginary friend approaches a child, adopts the child.

- creates this amazing world, as if trying to by and maintain a friendship.

- the friendship of course doesn't last.

- ending: he finds solace in knowing that the child never really forgets him (child draws pictures)

The imaginary friend is sitting by himself on a bench, similar looking to a bus stop, the surroundings are barren a desolate, he is sitting their with a ticket, the ticket with the name of the next boy he is meant to befriend. He is sad and lonely, the background begins to become clearer, the surroundings materialize and he is then sitting on a bench on a modern day street.

A boy and his mum walk by, the boys back pack is on the back of his bag. It is the same name as on the ticket. The imaginary friend jumps up and runs after the boy, and tries to befriend him. Behind the imaginary friend is a whole lot of objects that belong to him, he pulls these along with him. The objects are his 'world', things that he uses and plays with when he undertakes his role as an imaginary friend. every step the imaginary friend takes the view is able to see a bit of the world that the imaginary friend creates.

The imaginary friend tries everything to make the boy see him, but despite his efforts the boy remains unaware of his existence.

IMAGINARY FRIEND RESEARCH:

There are a few different reasons. It makes a difference how old the child is and how they use the mechanism of the "imaginary friend".

Very young children often develop imaginary friends in an attempt to broaden their social circles. They also use this mechanism to codify the social roles they see around them and on TV.

Slightly older children may be acting out some desire or fantasy. I had 8 imaginary kittens. I loved animals (still do) but was not allowed to have a cat in the house. It can also be a method for gaining a little attention (if mommy pays attention to me by holding the door open for me, she must also pay attention to me when she holds the door open for my friend).

After the earliest elementary ages, some other factors come to play. Children who feel outcast or different from their peers may develop an imaginary friend who is like them or who provides them with kindness, attention, understanding or support they feel they may not be getting elsewhere. They may use the imaginary friend to test out social scenarios in order to gain a feeling for what is normal or right or acceptable.

Children who have been abuse or witnessed stressful situations often use an imaginary friend as a protective sheild - a friend who will not fail them or hurt them. They may even speak through the friend when afraid to speak themselves.

For the most part, psychological development of imaginary friends as a young child is normal, so long as it does not fear w/ normal social interaction and development.

IMAGINARY FRIENDS REFERENCES:

http://www.iusedtobelieve.com/make_believe/imaginary_friends/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imaginary_friend

http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/when_your_child039s_new_friend_imaginary

STORY/THEMES:

loneliness

childhood dilemmas/issues

friendship

acceptance

MOOD BOARD:

SIMILAR STORIES AND REFERENCES:

- alice in wonderland

- spirited away

- howls moving castle

- my neighbor totoro

- la routine

- gary

- imaginary friends anecdotes

SIMILAR MOVIES:

- Don't Look Under the Bed

- Bogus

- Drop Dead Fred

- Payns Labyrinth

Week 3 Class

WORK 4 THIS WEEK:

- three themes and detailed story

- character sheets of all characters

- mood boards- create form images/ paints

- similar stories and references

Week 2

Last week I had the concept for an animation based on nature vs technology. This week I had the task of developing the concept further by developing a more detailed synopsis. After much deliberation I ended up changing the idea.

I had a few variations on a new concept, the underlying story is about a lonely boy who creates/draws a lot of characters and uses them as friends (imaginary friends). Due to some mystical, (currently) unknown reason the imaginary friends come to life and draw the boy into the world which they come from.

IDEA #2:

Lonely boy enters room.

Sighs out of discontentment and loneliness.

Sits at desk and starts drawing.

Gets a tap on the back, or hears something. Turns around to see what it is, but cant see anything. Turns back around and keep drawing.

Gets a tap on the back, or hears something again. Turns around to see what it is, but cant see anything. Turns back around and keep drawing.

Once again gets a tap on the back, or hears something. Turns around to see what it is, and one of the characters that he has drawn is standing with his face right up against his.

There is brief interaction between the characters, but ultimately the boy gets pulled into the world which the character dwells in.

In this world anything is possible i suppose. It is filled with all the characters that the boy has created.

In the end the boy returns to his world (alice in wonderland like).

WORK ON:

detailed synopsis

themes

conflict/ substance

Painting by Carrie Chau. Inspiration and a possible stylization for animation.

Week 1

IDEA #1 :

Boy enters a forest. He has a machine that he is in. He is part of a technologically advanced civilization. He is greeted by a giant girl who is part of the forest. The boy looks at the forest and takes it all in, amazed at what he sees. Looking closely at bits of nature, fascinated, he tries to mimic what he sees in his machine. He sees a bird fly, his machine grows wings and starts to fly. However, the machine being too big and not made for flying destroys many of the surrounding trees. He looks at other things in nature each time mimicking what he sees.

Always looking ahead he only ever sees more and more beautiful nature. He never looks behind to see the destruction that he has caused, until the end. He gets out of his machine and turns around a realizes the damages he has cause.

All this time the forest giant is watching. As a result of the continuing damage she is diminishing, so by the end she is not much more than a shell of a person.

Image for 6YL Mag. An original idea for the forest giant. A merge between a person and nature.

INITIAL CONCEPT ART :