VM363: Advanced Computer Animation Practice Clip Steps Jason Wiser

The first 3 weeks will include practice on fast production pipeline techniques by reverse-engineering a 20-50 second clip from a 2D animated show. Only quick “zero-drafting” techniques should be used for the modeling (mostly primitives) and texturing (basic colors, no UVW mapping).

SHOT LIST:

For each camera shot length and move, identify the seconds and frames:

Rick & Morty “What a Life”

Shot 1: [sec 0- 30 (pan1-2)]: [f 1-720, 24-48]: Rick enters, sits on bed.

Shot 2: [sec 30-37]: [f 721-888]: Rick threatens Morty.

Shot 3: [sec 37-41 (pan39-40)]: [f 889-984, 936-960]: Rick contrite, sways.

Shot 4: [sec 41-50] (pan43-44): [f 984-1200, 1032-1056]: Rick collapses.

STORYBOARD:

Draw each of the shots above. Stick figures are fine.

MODELING:

Preferences/Settings, set Working Units/Linear = Meters.

·  Rick=3.2 meters, Morty=2.5 meters (cartoon proportions), each a peg-person: a sphere attached to a cylinder, with the pivot point [d] set at the waist/pelvis.

·  For quick basic volumes, use Box Modeling: Create a box or a cylinder, use Vertex scale/non-uniform scale. Edge-Connect, Face-Extrude

·  For slightly more detailed shapes: Mesh Tools/Create Polygon, Extrude.

TEXTURING:

Windows/Rendering Editors/Hypershade. Add a new Blinn for each color. Set Name, Specular=0 (black). Color-pick from video, MidMouse drag on object or face selection.

LIGHTING (basic hardware rendering)

INTERIOR: Spotlight above (use Depth Map Shadows, high cone angle and low penumbra), Ambient light below.

EXTERIOR: Directional light above (use Depth Map Shadows), Ambient light below

CAMERA:

Set timeline extents to length of Shotlist. Create/Camera/Camera. Panels/Perspective/Camera1. Adjust in viewport for first framing, hit [s] to set frames on all channels, turn on AutoKeyframeToggle. For each shot in the shotlist, create two keyframes (beginning and end) and start the next shot exactly one frame later.

IMPORT AUDIO:

Drag your WAV audio clip into the timeline. The waveform should appear there, and the sound should be audible when scrubbing or playing (if not, be sure your Preferences/TimeSlider/PlaybackSpeed = RealTime [24fps]).

IMPORT VIDEO REFERENCE:

Add as texture to parented plane, shrunk in a corner with lower opacity. Render sequence from After Effects as name.#####.jpg (No underscores: rename with Maya’s fcheck: http://autode.sk/2bvAjBh). Load first image, set to “Use Image Sequence” in Attribute Editor. Full process: http://bit.ly/2bvA5tO

CAMERA REVISION:

Now that you have the footage and audio imported, revise your shots to more closely match the timing of the clip.

CHARACTER BLOCKING:

For each shot, animate your characters: start with the pose at the start and end of each shot, then animate big pose changes within. With no limbs, you are limited to center of mass animation: rotation and movement driven by the root, which in all bipedal characters is at the waist/pelvis. All character animation should start with root motion, not limbs, so this will be good practice thinking in terms of the root.

OPTIONAL STEPPED KEYS:

Preferences/Animation/Tangents: 'Clamped' for Default In, Stepped' for Out.

2