Frame by Frame

So I decided yesterday that my first full body animation test is going to be a dude lifting a heavy block. Our network was out for like 6 hours at work yesterday, and all the work I do is off network drives, so I was sketching out some thumbnails of a block lift, and pushing a block up an incline. I kind of got a feel for how to bend the spine and stuff. Since yesterday I've done a bit of a pencil test. Up until my last iteration I actually hadn't looked up any information in my 'Animator's Survival Kit' book. After consulting the book, all I did was edit the beginning frames with the U-shaped arched back. Beforehand, they were going the same direction as the other frames. Here is my progress so far with some blocking for timing. http://megaswf.com/view/c1b8f87058d9e4304084d2c5ff65ba3f.html I haven't decided yet if I actually want him to put the block on the other block, or just to fall over backwards from the weight.

So I was super bored at work yesterday and I just started sketching out a random character so at some point I could animate him, instead of my ball with stick legs. I've never really tried to design a character before, but I was keeping some things in mind when I sketched this out. I wanted to keep the body a pretty simple shape, so I settled on something thats pretty round. I also wanted to make sure that his eyes are able to express different emotions, as well as having something on top of his head to also help me express emotion, and for motion overlap. So this is what I came up with as my first version. I only did the head and the body at work. The legs, arms, and entire side view I completed after I got home. [caption id="attachment_72" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="Version 1.0"] [/caption] After completing that, I decided that I didn't like the shape of his head anymore, so I worked on a second version today. The height o

Over the last couple of days, I've taken it upon myself to take the practice I got at work doing thumbnails and stuff, and put it to practical use. A while ago I downloaded this program called "Pencil". I also had a drawing pad that I haven't used in a few weeks. So then I set to work putting my ball with legs on a walk across the screen. On paper I'd only ever penciled out 3 steps. The walk across the screen was 12...quite a bit more than I'd done before. Needless to say, by the end I got kind of decent, although I do have to say that the size of my dude changes a little over time. I can't figure out how to actually put the file on here, so I guess a link will have to do... http://megaswf.com/view/f3a9a29c06a80d98f5fb68931653a08b.html Next I thought I'd change it up a bit. Used the same beginning, but added a surprise. A quick practice in some physics. Not really as good as it can be... http://megaswf.com/view/9831171cf009b1722fbe60f8a59488cc.html Las

Yea, so that's the funny thing about me having a blog. I can neglect it. I was never that much of a writer in school. Both academically and for fun. This is something I really should do though. Would do well for me to brush up on some writing skills, and by association, my communication skills. Nothing much has happened since my last entry other than me getting mad at some more drivers, doing some more practice animations, and oh yea...not moving home anymore. Whatever, it's probably for the better. Having not lived at home for almost a quarter of my life, it would be just too weird to move back inside those walls. I should go now, I'm still on a high from the "LOST" finale and just having gotten back from seeing "Star Trek" in IMAX. Pretty awesome.