Wallace and Gromit - A Grand Day Out (1989)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jvOTsi3i64
A classic piece of clay animation. Although the characters don't have eyebrows, the emotions are still conveyed through the deformation of the top of their heads. When Wallace drips paint on Gromit's head, he is clearly annoyed, as his brow dips in the middle giving an expression of mild anger. In the same scene, Wallace is blissfully unaware and in his own world. His eyes are wide, his brow is relaxed and he has a small smile on his face. This shows he is content and enjoying his painting while not being the most aware of his surroundings.
When Gromit is drilling, he is surprised by the force the drill gives, causing his body and ears to vibrate. His surprise is shown by the sudden widening of his eyes and slight recoil.
Creature Comforts - Pets at the Vets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ecpYfWFmLA&feature=related
More clay animation from the same studio, Aardman. There are many examples of facial animation here. The sound is recorded and then the characters are animated to fit the voice. The hamster, for example, has a slow and droning voice, so the animators have given the hamster dreary eyes, he is mostly looking at the floor showing he isn't paying much attention and he is sitting still with his arms rested on the cage, only making a few small, lazy gestures.
Also, when the lioness is talking, we can tell the sound man off screen is scared simply because the boom-mic is shaking violently.
Monday 30 January 2012
Character Research
In order to create an effective, believable and villainous character, research must be done in to the facial and bodily movements used to express emotion. By looking not only at other examples of animation, but also by watching people around us, information can be gathered to improve the quality of the character.
Firstly, I will look at a book about character animation;
Roberts, S, 2004. Character Animation in 3D. London: Focal Press.
When animating the face, the eyes, eyebrows and mouth are the key elements. The 8 basic faces are 'happy', 'sad', 'surprise', 'fear', 'anger', 'disgust', 'interest' and 'pain'. These different positions of the facial features can be combined to make thousands of expressions. I plan on using 3DS Max's morpher to animate my character's face, and I will use this '8 basic faces' principle.
If any lip synch is going to be used, there are also the 11 basic mouth shapes. These shapes when combined, similar to the expressions above, can create all the mouth movements. I will most likely use both the 8 faces and 11 mouth shapes to be even more accurate in creating a believable face.
These principles are relevant to any facial structure with two eyes and a mouth, so they don't necessarily just relate to humanoids. However, most successful non-human characters use anthropomorphism anyway, so even if I choose a non-human character, it will have humanoid features.
Firstly, I will look at a book about character animation;
Roberts, S, 2004. Character Animation in 3D. London: Focal Press.
When animating the face, the eyes, eyebrows and mouth are the key elements. The 8 basic faces are 'happy', 'sad', 'surprise', 'fear', 'anger', 'disgust', 'interest' and 'pain'. These different positions of the facial features can be combined to make thousands of expressions. I plan on using 3DS Max's morpher to animate my character's face, and I will use this '8 basic faces' principle.
If any lip synch is going to be used, there are also the 11 basic mouth shapes. These shapes when combined, similar to the expressions above, can create all the mouth movements. I will most likely use both the 8 faces and 11 mouth shapes to be even more accurate in creating a believable face.
These principles are relevant to any facial structure with two eyes and a mouth, so they don't necessarily just relate to humanoids. However, most successful non-human characters use anthropomorphism anyway, so even if I choose a non-human character, it will have humanoid features.
When animating the body, different gaits have very different meanings. In order for the character to be menacing, it must move in a menacing way. A happy walk in a human is when the back is arched back, chin is raised and the strides are confident. This is most certainly not how a villain would walk.
A villain would walk with anger or determination. The head is down, the body is angled towards the point of interest and the shoulders are tense and raised. The feet would also hit the ground harder and faster than they would with a happy person.
I am still a little unsure how I would convey this emotion through the movement of a non-human character though. More research is required there.
The centre of gravity is important when animating. The laws of physics usually still need to be paid attention to. If a limb is moved, like the arm being outstretched, the body will compensate by shifting weight elsewhere to maintain balance such as moving a leg backward. The more force the movement has, the more obvious the balancing movement will be.
The author also makes it clear that subtle details make the animation better. For example, never allow the character to stare right down the virtual camera lens. This serves to break the fourth wall and unless this is intended, will look odd.
To make a character feel alive, it's eyes must always be focussed on something whether on or off screen. Using the 'look-at constraint' in 3DS Max will help with this.
Telegraphing is also a good way to make movements more realistic. This is when our body moves in a way to set up our next movement. For example, if the character is about to throw a punch, the telegraphing movements would be cocking the arm up and back in preparation, and also adjusting their centre of gravity.
And finally, according to the author, as a general rule of thumb extreme close-ups do not work well in this type of animation. The closest shot that should be used will have the character's face and shoulders in the frame.
To make a character feel alive, it's eyes must always be focussed on something whether on or off screen. Using the 'look-at constraint' in 3DS Max will help with this.
Telegraphing is also a good way to make movements more realistic. This is when our body moves in a way to set up our next movement. For example, if the character is about to throw a punch, the telegraphing movements would be cocking the arm up and back in preparation, and also adjusting their centre of gravity.
And finally, according to the author, as a general rule of thumb extreme close-ups do not work well in this type of animation. The closest shot that should be used will have the character's face and shoulders in the frame.
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