another updated animatic

in this animatic ive only shown whats been changed. i changed the scene when he opens the bog door because it looks like he's sitting on the toilet still. the new shot i think helps add a bit of tension. the second half is only a draft of the animation, there for the quality of the video is pretty tosh, but again just to look at the timing.

updated animatic

so the first bit has been animated, the backgrounds are all changing, i just wanted to get a sense of the timing. quite happy with how its looking so far though

adding personality

after a chat with adam and some helpfull feedback, it became apparent that i needed to add more personality to my characters. Gordon needs to show at the beginning he is a little worried and envious, and after taking the pills he has a sudden false sense of confidence. one way to show this i found in my character, is with the help of blinks and shoulder movements

visibility tracks

I learnt how to do visibility tracks today. it took a little getting used to but got it down to a t now!
visibility tracks are used to mimick the picking up of an object and are a little bit of a fudge but it works with the first rule of animation.

"if it looks right, it is right"

Stretchy Legs

I followed a tutorial to help me get a nice strecth system on my legs. it helps to fake a bit of weighting and is really usefull if i just need that extra little bit of help reaching the ground mid run. It stops the mesh from ripping apart, and still lets the legs bend normally.

Foot Controll

I took a little while learning how to set up a nice foot system. i decided to do a reverse foot rig so i could get a nice roll going on. I had to learn a little bit about custom attributes and writing scripts, I no it wasnt really necessary for the character but this year for me is about experimenting and pushing yourself, so i decided to give it a crack. so far it seems ok. i managed to put a slider system on the side so i can just use it to get a nice foot roll. i had a seperate slider for a toe wiggle and a knee rotation.


this picture shows the effect of the slider when skinning has been applied.

New Rig

so I spent some time with a new rig. i decided to put a lot of time into this one as i think it will greatly help the look of the animation at a later date. ive managed to get a lot of controls so i can really get a nice weighted pose. il put up a video shortly showing what all the different bits do. heres an overall idea of what it looks like though.


I stuck a hip bone in for the main reason that i can get a nice thrusting action going on.

Latest Animatic

Here is my latest animatic, ive replaced 3/4 of the animation with the 3d enviroment. Ive kept some parts to stills. I think it reads quite well now. ive added all the balls shots in flash, which was an experiment but i think it works quite nice. looking to probably do this for the final animation.