Off-season Projects in 3D Animation

[BuddyB309]

Well its about that time again. Off season prodjects that your working on. We had a thread going last year and i got pretty big.

Post any prodjects your working on over the summer here. It doesnt have to be anything spectacular, a simple model will do. Well comment on it and point out a couple of things you could improve on. I like posting off season prodjects here instead of those CG forums cause people arent so harsh here. That way people wont get discouraged and we wont talk in that "CG lingo" as much. Its always a good thing to continue doing animation over the summer. It'll make you a much better animator when the next season comes around.

[BuddyB309]

I'll kick off this summer long thread by posting my current prodject im working on right now. Its for a contest.


and here is a close up of one of the characters



and his cute little butt!



Here are all three of the characters. that are in my prodject.
Picture

[bobdahaxor]

that looks like the guy from this game in playstation called q-bert!

[fireball3004]

I really love how soft and smooth you got your charictor, how did you get the eyes so realistic though I can't seem to do it.

[Taylor]

Originally Posted by bobdahaxor

that looks like the guy from this game in playstation called q-bert!

Game in playstation called Q-Bert? I remember Q-Bert in 1982. Crikey, I'm old. 27 is the new 87.

[BuddyB309]

here is a time lapse video of me animateting. Its recorded with a free program called hypercam.

Animateting bert

[Saru29]

This is my current project. After I finish modeling Gir i want to start teaching my self about bones and custom rigs. Anyone know any good tutorials for character animation?

[BuddyB309]

Originally Posted by Saru29

This is my current project. After I finish modeling Gir i want to start teaching my self about bones and custom rigs. Anyone know any good tutorials for character animation?

There arnt very many tutorials online for character animation but there are books. The best book that i ever got for character animation is "The Animators Survival kit" by Richard Willams. I highly recomend this to any animator out there. I use this book as a reference all the time.

Pink eye anyone?



Ouch! someone get these thorns out of my eye!

[BuddyB309]

any of you that are wondering how i did the eye textures im makeing time lapses videos of my progress (partially cause i just discovered the wonders of Hypercam). Any way scince im free from the contraist of autodesk competition im free to use what ever program i want. Here is the movie.

Irritated eyes, fruit, and leaves


EDIT:
Wow, making these little videos is fun. I think everyone should record what they do and play it back. (I record it at one frame per second and then play it back at 24 frams per second). It really teaches you how you use your time, and how to improve so you are more efficiant. (plus i think i makes animateting seem really cool when its played back like that, especialy with music) Here is another video of me putting fruit and oggys eyeballs into the scene.


putting Eyes and fruit into the scene

EDIT:

Big thanks to David (testament-doom) He is making the scenery. I never would have come up with something like that. Were still working on it together and still going strong. (although both of our sanity apears to be missing.....hmmmmmm)

[Testament-Doom]

Care to mention that I'm helping you with this too? .

EDIT:

And now.. Time lapses, Testament-Doom version of the project

Spreading the grass and flowers onto the scene (ends with a crash, but I recover)
Modeling the spikey pear (If you get an error message, wait like 30 minutes or an hour or so)

[spinmunky]

oh how i wish i could use Max the way you two do... i'm not too great at it. I can't model at all either.

[Salik Syed]

Your character models are very creative and well done!
I know it's still probably a WIP so all the textures and stuff aren't done ... but some grass and realistic textures would make those scenes awesome.

Character animation is one of those things I never really mastered properly -- i might look into that book you suggested! I saw your time lapse videos and it just shows ya how hard it is to get a really fluid realistic/professional looking animations.
Your animation wasn't bad though!

[Testament-Doom]

Heh, the pictures you're seeing is using an old version of the scenery. Right now I am currently making the scene have grass where grass is needed, and am making a complete flower bed where the clump of grass and flowers are. The idea is that this is a park, the plane you see is supposed to be mowed grass. I needed to redo the grass placement again and flower placement to make it a tad better so I can edit it and place it manually after. Once I get that part done, I'll see if anything else needs to be added on along with BuddyB309, and then from there, finish it up .

We're close to done btw, modeling and animating and all, and then we have to render it, which we got plenty of time to do, and it won't take more than a few days at most (my guess, but who knows if the render settings will change).

[BuddyB309]

Originally Posted by spinmunky

oh how i wish i could use Max the way you two do... i'm not too great at it. I can't model at all either.

LOL! I was saying the same thing you are at this time last year. If you dont belive me just check out the "off season competition/animtion" thread of last year. Abroerman posted a beautiful model of a mech and i asked "how do you get that good?!!" (I've yet to get to the level he is at in modeling, Put as far as character animation goes, I have not seen any work of his that has a smooth flow that im capable of.)

Just keep woking at it. Learn as much as you can, 3dtotal.com has great tutorials. Also learn comitment. Dont jump from project to project just because you got bord of it and want something new. finish what you start. after you finish your first big idea. Finishing the next one is a WHOLE lot easier and forces you to work with mistakes rather than abondoning them and forgetting them.

Learn to be fast: One of the best things i could do is speed modeling challenge or speed (insert aspect of 3D here) challenge. The Faster you are the more you can dish out. Dont sit and wait for a test render. Open up another program (if you computer can handel it) and work on something else. I found that once your in the "zone" you'll get a lot done. Test renders, checking email, going on chiefdelphi, or any other thing other than your project breaks your "zone." For me, its hard to get back in this animation zone, but once i do, im on a roll. (translation: I have no life. Just kidding)

If you really like animation, learn as much as you can now and NEVER stop challengeing yourself. I know it sounds clich`e but it works. I wanted to try camera matching and tracking. Read up about it did a test aniamtion and then when i knew what i was doing, did my War of the Worlds project It was tough, but i learned a LOT.

Dont worry, if all you think about is animation then your on the right track. It will snap one day (long after your mind snaps ) and it will just hit you. Then you will be cranking out stuff that i do. You will always have a feeling though that you dont know enough. Im very surprised people say im good, I never see that in my eyes and attempt to learn more.

good luck i hope this gives you an insight.

[Wedge34]

abroerman is just too good
Winnovation's animation was awesome this year, I thought it was an HP commercial at first
This looks very nice too
See you guys at STL next year, loved your robot



still trying to make boxes in 3ds- completely different animal than inventor