Final Animation Project

For the final animation project, I decided to follow the reference video of Rowan Atkinson’s ‘Mr Bean’ character practising different handshakes and preparing himself to meet the Queen. I chose this because I thought it was a simple, yet challenging animation with some snappy movements. So, I thought I would use this reference video to further aid my animation skills and to gain a better understanding of how to make fast motions in animation.

At first, I started key-framing the main poses of the character, using the reference video, and then I changed from step tangents to spline to see what it looked like as it follows through to the main key-frames. After that, I just added more keys where he would pause, step around with his feet, or quickly move his hands and head movements. This allowed me to make the animation more accurate to the reference video and as I went through the different control curves, I found that there were quite a few errors with them. I used the graph editor to change the different tangents that I had placed on the key-frames, which helped me to get the snappy movements of the character and to get it to a good state for the rest of the animation.

Therefore, my overall animation included the correct poses I needed from the reference video and some snappy movements of the character, but it did not have all of the right movements that Rowan Atkinson did in his skit. If I were to do this again, I would improve by going through the different tangents to fix them and adding in some additional frames for the pauses/ quick movements.

Link to animation video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwApOYubPZ5QVWFNSWowV2JoUFE/view?usp=sharing

reference video:

Final Rigged model

Link to Rig file

Through the process of rigging the character, I was trying to follow the tutorials as accurately as I could so that I can get a decent character rig and I think I was able to do this in the end. I found some of the processes of rigging quite long to do and slightly got confused over some things, but I was able to resolve the issues I had as I went along. I feel like my rig was created efficiently, due to me making sure that everything was similar to the tutorial and I made sure that the joints where in the correct positions for the mesh. This was a very useful thing for me to do because I have skinned it now and I have made sure that the different control curves move how they should. There are some areas that don’t work that well if you move the curve too far, but overall I am proud of the final model that I’ve created. Therefore, now I will have to develop the model further so that it can be ready for the animating stage and I will go back to the reference videos I stored so that I can pick one that will suit the character.

My final character model

As part of this module, I have made a basic character mesh that includes textures for the different sections of the body. This image is to show the front topology of the full body and I was able to use reference images to effectively get a general shape for the character and then I added more polygons to make those parts of the body into clothes for the character to wear. I was able to add edge loops where they were needed and I made sure that most of the edges flowed through the body.

This is a close up on the hand mesh that I made for the character and I was able to follow a useful tutorial to be able to make the basic shape of the hand. This included making sure that the thumb comes out and folds inwards a bit and also adding more edge loops where the fingers would bend when I need to animate them. I could have improved on this by adding some more detail on the fingers and extruding some of the faces to make the nails; but, I still feel like the basic hand mesh was at a decent level of detail for the character I was making and it came out well in the end.

This is the front view of the head I made for my character, which I followed using a tutorial online to help me and in the end it came out better than what I had before. I followed the tutorial to make the basic head, whilst using a different reference image I found for a head, and it turned out pretty well. Looking at the other reference images I had, I could have added more circular edge loops around the face to keep up good practice with modelling a head and I could have added hair to the model too. But, it still looks quite realistic overall and is a lot better when it's smoothed out.

 This is the front and side view of the finished model smoothed; including a jumper, joggers, socks, shoes, skin, eyes and lips. Although I had quite a limited amount of time to texture the model, I am quite happy with the appearance of the final character that I've made and that it has clothes on it. The methods I used to texture this character may have been a bit unprofessional and basic, but if I was to do this again, I would unwrap the polygons into Photoshop and simply add the textures the way I want them to look on the character mesh. Therefore, I feel like I was able to create quite a realistic model and I used good topology with the modelling of the character, but I didn't get to use my full potential to texture it properly.

3 reference clips for animating a human figure

I chose to use this clip as a reference that shows some subtle movements from the actor (Rowan Atkinson) practising a hand shake a few different times. There are some quick movements within the clip and they help to emphasise the character coming up with different styles of handshakes because of his nerves to meeting someone important. I think that this would be a good clip to animate due to it having some strong figure poses that are used quite quickly, but are effective enough that the viewers can understand what he’s doing. I might not be able to get all the positions correct, but I could develop a better understanding of how to get a snappy effect in my animation and to have some fast motion in it.

For this clip, I think that the timing is perfect throughout the clip and mostly when the actor (Charlie Chaplin) stuffs the pastry in his mouth and looks back at the shop owner as if he didn’t eat his food. I feel like this is something that can challenge me into getting the anticipation right for when he wants to reach over and then for when he quickly eats the food. Again, this clip has some quick and subtle movements that build up the anticipation for him to then take the pastry. So, I think that if I was to animate this, I would have to get the timing right for the scene and then I will need to get the spacing precise for the animation to look right.

The final clip shows good use of snappy movements, like the others, but it includes a lot more motion with the body of the mime artist and he makes a strong performance by using his body language to make the viewers think that the balloon is really stuck in mid-air. If I was to animate this, it would be quite a challenge to get the artist’s movements accurately and for the timing to be right; but, I would be able to try something that seems difficult and to possibly use some animation techniques that I haven’t used before. Therefore, I feel like this would be helpful for me to do since it would increase my abilities as an animator and even if I fail, I could learn from my mistakes to perfect the work I did.

These are my 3D character reference images from Pinterest: