Submersible Anamatic

Okay, this is the much anticipated (if anyone - other than Nia - is actually reading this) submersible anamatic. Which translates into "really rough animation." An anamatic is a way to get the basic movements of your story down. So, I knew I needed the crane to lift the sub, for it to move through the water, and then the scene on the floor of the ocean. Some of the movements aren't quite right (such as the fish, some of the crane movements, etc.), but the intent is there.

At this phase, your client can look at what you are producing and really start to cut or add scenes. Hopefully not add, really. It's better to be working from multiple shots and cutting down to what you want. A major difference between movie-making and animation is the editing process. Movies will shoot more than they need and then par it down after it is all said and done. Animation will try and nail down their scenes in the storyboard phase, if not the anamatic phase. Time is most certainly money in animations, usually by the second. So, you really only want to produce your final product.

Movements should be critiqued (i.e. those fish are stilted, try to work in more variety of motion paths; that crane shouldn't jerk like that, it needs a greater feeling of weight). At this point, something that was just in your head is now in a format that other people can give an opinion to. And opinions should be sought after. So, tell me what you think! (and let me know I'm not just talking to myself, cause I do that quite a bit)

First project storyboard

So, this is a really basic storyboard for the first assignment, using the concept of the submarine from last spring. I was really interested in finishing up the "Atlantis" theme, so I extrapolated from there. This story board is, as I said, pretty rough.













So, the sub starts out on ship board. It's lifted off, swung over the side of the ship, then lowered into the water. Cut to it descending with fish and the water getting darker. Finally, it crosses over the landscape to reveal the other submersibles and Atlantis. Animatic coming soon.

Mousetrap

Wow, it's been a while since I thought to actually begin blogging. More than a year, really. Such big hopes...

Well, now I actually have nearly daily things that I am working on, so I should be able to post a couple of times of week. Hopefully.

To kick things off, I thought I would post the first video we did as a homework assignment in the Maya II class I'm in. As a graduate student in a undergrad class, it's has been quite interesting. Mostly, I think I feel old. Which is strange, for I really am not that much older than the students in that class - perhaps it is their expectations and whatnot. In any case, I am thoroughly enjoying the class.




This was built using the dynamics system in Maya. Utilizing constraints, gravity, active and passive rigid bodies, and so forth, this animation took shape. The task of not actually animating anything, but allowing the physics system to work it out instead was quite the chore. I ended up baking everything in at the end of the animation and editing a few keys, so the render ran more smoothly, and didn't take 15 years. The textures are just things I threw on the objects in a few seconds. Literally. Even the objects themselves are highly simplified in hopes of speeding the physics engine up as it worked in real time.

In any case, I actually am posting now. What joy.