Find me on Twitter

Just a quick post today to say I made an account on Twitter so I can improve my networking! Hooray! Follow me to see what I'm up to: www.twitter.com/Caitlin_Vickers

Meanwhile my project blog is being updated regularly: www.caitlinvickersproject.blogspot.co.uk

I'm currently sorting out all my work and research for an upcoming (assessed) progress review - something that is also good practice for pitching at events like Expo Tees, for example (which I hope to earn a place at!).

Caitlin :)

Another blog! - caitlinvickersproject

A new link has appeared at the top of this page... That 'Final Year Project blog' button will take you to a new blog I have created dedicated to my individual project for my third year. Please head over there (www.caitlinvickersproject.blogspot.co.uk) and read my 'introduction' post to see why I've done this.

I will continue to post on this blog, but it will be more general posts about whatever I'm animating; specific details about my "The Life of a Student Animator" project will go on my new blog, so please follow that if you'd like to see all the stages of my work process!

I hope I can keep up with all the blogs I'm involved with this year...

Caitlin :)

First day of third year - eek!

I attended my first classes of the year today - my last year, cry! Everything is still moving slowly at the moment while timetables get sorted out and we get given some information, but at least I do now know a bit more clearly what I'm doing.

Our group project is limited to one minute, which means we as a team need to edit our idea as it was heading towards two minutes. While this is a little inconvenient as it means changing things, I am happy that we're being forced to keep it shorter as it means we know how much work we're taking on and it's less likely to become overwhelming - animation is time consuming!

The individual project is pretty much as open as I thought it would be, so my current idea should be alright. The only thing I need to start thinking about differently is how I'm going to structure the project as a whole, with an assessed proposal and a report that must detail the main parts of the process: deciding what is required (what I want to show at the end of the year), creating a way of fulfilling this (planning), following it through (animating, yay!), and evaluating. I also learned that my individual project must be submitted by the 21st March 2014, before my Easter break - seven or eight weeks earlier than the group project. I'd better stay focussed!

"The Life of a Student Animator" is still in the script stage; my first meeting with my supervisor is on Friday, so I'm going to work on my proposal until then rather than putting lots of effort into storyboarding something that she might not even be on board with! I'm excited for Friday to finally see whether or not my project is on the right lines.

Caitlin :)

Third year team - Inky Squid!

My 'I'm back' was a bit optimistic for such a busy summer! I did take on a large creative project, though it was very different to animation... If you fancy a gander, I made a blog about it here.

I have been thinking about my individual project and I think I've settled on an idea that will be diverse and fun to make, based on or titled "A Day in the Life of an Animator". Animating someone animating sounds like a healthy challenge! I want to incorporate those moments of the animator impersonating the character they are animating and of them posing in the mirror; it should be an accurately strange representation of computer animators!

The other half of third year is the group project. I've mentioned this briefly before without going into detail about my team as we didn't have anything going online yet. Our blog is now up and running, so head to www.inkysquiduk.blogspot.co.uk to see a spot of pre-production. The story we've decided on, which will be created in full 3D over the next nine or ten months, is one that shows how vivid kids' imaginations are. Two brothers are playing in a garden and a fight for some cookies begins, switching between real life and multiple different imaginary scenes. We're all excited for it -- though it's going to take a lot of work -- and having a very balanced team is something we all appreciate.

Caitlin :)

I'm back!

Hallo! My blog has been on hiatus for a while... The original purpose behind it was for its contents to be marked for my second-year module, 3D Character Animation, so I uploaded the work for that module as I went and then I had to stop adding to it so it could be marked. Now that the marking is done, I am free to start using it again -- and I can put whatever work I want on it. :D The older posts that were used for marking are still on here -- and I still like them as they show the progress of my very first pieces of computer animation work -- but I've changed the blog design, renamed it and created my own banner to match the style of my portfolio website (albeit a bit sillier than my portfolio website!).

Now this blog will follow me into the next stage of my career as an animator: final year project! My third year at Teesside consists of a group project (I'm in a team of five) that's worth 50%, and an individual project (plus dissertation) that's also worth 50% but is more important as it's what gets you a job. I have yet to decide on an idea for my individual project. All I know is that since I want to specifically be a 3D character animator, it's going to be focussed on that as much as possible -- so hopefully doing some work that will show diversity in skill, like animating both dramatic and subtle performances, etc..

I may put some of my latest work on here with any works in progress I can find, but apart from that I guess I'll post when third year ideas start moving along.

Caitlin :)

(I need to find the timezone settings on Blogger because apparently I post at really strange times...)

FINAL - song performance

Hooray, it is finished! I think I only started on this about a week ago, so it's been a very full-on week! Animating this piece was very difficult because I had never done anything like it before and it wasn't nearly as easy as I thought it would be, but it was also extremely rewarding to figure out the hard way how to make these movements believable and to see a good result at the end.

I'm really impressed with how this turned out, given how many things always seemed to be wrong with it every time I played it back! I just kept combing over and over it, making lists of the things that needed to be tweaked and then fixing them. There are still things now, of course, that I can see are a bit stiff or not quite timed right, but it's my second lip sync and first attempt at real, complex human movement, so those things will get better in time as I continue to animate. 

My reference video (on the 'planning' page) was mostly just used for figuring out the initial thumbnails, then as I was animating I relied heavily on either doing the moves in a mirror to see the order in which the joints moved and rotated, or dancing in my chair! The 'snake' move especially was a challenge given that the head has to lead, which is totally against the way rigs like this work.

I got the rig here: http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/character-rigs/c/max-for-maya
In hindsight, another rig might have been better -- one with more advanced or human-like facial controls (with more eyebrow/face deformation, for example) -- but this was only something I thought once I had seen what kind of animation I was producing with it quite far into the process. Different rigs are better for different tasks; you live and learn, I guess!

This is my last post for this module, but I will hopefully continue to use the blog in future. I have learned so much in a short space of time through this module, and I'm really excited now to be able to use my newfound skills to pursue my character animation career!

Caitlin :)

Character song performance work in progress

Here is my song performance to Aretha Franklin's 'Respect' so far. I've blocked it out really roughly to get the key poses from my thumbnails in (thumbnails will appear on my planning page once I'm near a scanner).

Caitlin :)

FINAL - lip sync to "give"

It is done! Huzzah! I wonder how many times I've heard this clip now...
(See my 'planning' page above for the thumbnails and reference.)

This looks so much more natural now that I've put everything in. I had it before with just the head doing the acting, making Dee look rather robotic, but with some arm and torso movements he suddenly looked human. I also had to make up where the blinks went, as in my video reference I, so helpfully, did not blink once!

It was surprisingly hard to fit in all the same emotion as I did on my video reference, as I was trying to exaggerate it as well for animation purposes, so I feel like this is a bit rushed in places. But overall I'm pleased with the change in mood in Dee from happy to deadly defensive.

Caitlin :)

Business cards!

Yesterday my first ever batch of business cards came in the post from MOO.com. Yaaay!

I designed both sides myself in Photoshop and uploaded the designs to MOO, who printed them out for me. I'm so pleased with the result, so now I just have to have the confidence to actually give them out during Animex week!

They're really nice quality and a satisfying size, with the colours much bolder than I thought they'd be for CMYK. And I even got a 20% student discount, meaning I paid around £15 for 50 custom cards -- not bad at all for the quality and service!

Caitlin :)

FINAL - normal walk and personality walk

It turns out everything looks ten times better when you light and render it... So I'm really happy with my finished walk cycles!

Normal/basic walk cycle
He looks a bit gormless... but he's walking, which is the important thing.

Personality walk - confident
This one is new! I had it half done before, but he needed some more -- erm -- swagger, and some movement in the cycle to show his personality. I love how this turned out; MooM is so comical! And the cycle looped so much better than I expected -- I didn't have to go through fiddling with seams between the steps.

Caitlin :)

FINAL - 3D poses

I finally got out my already complete poses and rendered them out nicely, phew!
(Click on images to enlarge.)

I can take you all on!

Troubled by result

What's under there?

This last one I actually redid using Dee instead of MooM, as Dee has a bit more movement and expression, I think. Overall I'm very pleased and think they are clear (and hopefully a bit comical!), especially when they're not just naff screenshots!

Caitlin :)

Hobbits, Jack Frost, and lifeboats with tigers

It's a Christmas film catch-up! I've been to the cinema three times over the past few weeks: first to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (3D); second to see Rise of the Guardians; and third to see Life Of Pi (3D). All of these films were a stunning and special experience, but all for very different reasons.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
This film has so much content! I don't know why it's split into three, though -- two seems like enough, but maybe not for all the extras and backstories they're adding. I have to say, though, it was nice not to feel that any scene was rushed. Bilbo and Gollum playing a riddle game, for instance -- they told almost every riddle from the book, and it was all very thorough, allowing you to just enjoy the moment before diving into more running and fighting.

I felt kind of sorry for all the VFX artists, though; this film was not only two hours and forty minutes, not only in 3D, but was also being shown in 48 frames-per-second instead of just the standard 24/25. I don't know in great detail how much this would affect the jobs of those working on the effects, but even if the workload didn't increase much it did increase the pressure to get it right, as audiences could see every single detail as though they were there.

Despite this, though, the effects were as stunning as ever. Gollum didn't fail to be believable -- and simultaneously both repulsive and endearing -- with his huge, expressive eyes and slimy movements. There were endless crowd simulations and battles and numerous fantasy creatures... But as well as the effects the whole thing was just done nicely. Every character was very detailed and different, and at the same time they all gelled in to the whole. Every scene and location was always new and memorable.

I very much enjoyed being able to thoroughly immerse myself in this fantasy world without any problem and allow the story to be told without rushing. I look forward to the next instalment.


Rise of the Guardians
I had no idea what to expect at all with this film. I hadn't really even seen the trailers, but I figured it was worth a watch even without knowing what it was! I had heard a lot of good responses to it, too.

I must be a magpie, because the main reason I liked it was for its beautiful visuals. The characters were very sharp both in look and attitude, and the magical effects included were really lovely to watch. My favourite thing was the Sandman and his powers -- he appeared himself to be made completely of glittery gold sand, and all the dream-like images he conjured were of the same material. Yum yum.

The story was good -- suited to a family-friendly, easy-to-follow animated feature -- and I liked that it focussed on the story and character of Jack Frost, as I hadn't expected this and he was easily the most relatable, believable character of the bunch. It was fun to see his personal journey.

So, given that I went into this with no clue of what I was going to see, this film was a pleasant surprise for me.

Life Of Pi

For me, this was the most interesting film of three, purely for its diversity and beauty in an industry filled with guns, chases and explosions. The beginning of the film shows you about Pi's life (being told by his older self) when he was young and in school, finding his way and his faith. This section was very charming, even though it didn't seem to add much to the rest of the plot.

I loved the style -- it was all very clean with carefully chosen colours and composition. These features continued to be prevalent once Pi hit the water in his lifeboat after the ship he was on sank. Every scene, every frame, was a piece of art. The colours were vivid and stunning, and often the imagery would go into the very stylised, with the sea becoming more transparent or glass-like.

There was very little that was filmed for real -- not only were the animals CGI, but the sea and surroundings were more often than not, too -- but all the CGI was seamless.

I throughly enjoyed experiencing something so different, and the whole thing was beautiful from start to finish with an odd and interesting story to boot.

Caitlin :)

Lip sync work in progress

Hello there, just a quick post to show what stage my lip sync work is at so far. I've done the opens/closes and wides/narrows and it's looking pretty good and convincing!

What I think I will have to work on with the mouth is making some shapes more exaggerated; my character starts off nice but then turns quite aggressive, so I think they'll have to start opening their mouth a bit wider in the second half.

I'm looking forward to when all the head, body and facial movement (as much as is needed for this head and shoulders shot) goes in as well. Hooray for acting through the computer (with reference that I did, which will go on the 'planning' page...)!

Caitlin :)

FINAL - Pool Balls Can't Bounce

So I finally polished off and rendered my ball animation exercise! I'm much happier with it now it's got squash and stretch, textures and lights and snazzy camera angles.

Poor pool ball.

Caitlin :)

What's Under There?

Happy new year! 2013, goodness... Here's a pose.

I realised after I did this that I used a different rig to my other two poses, haha... But I think I'll do it again anyway, as there's something not quite right. I don't know if it's the facial expression, or the fact he looks a bit nervous - but maybe he is nervous to see what's under that block!

MooM didn't bend as easily as I did when I photographed myself in this pose, which annoyed me at first, but then it ended up forcing me to use a more interesting, cinematic camera angle where you can see the facial expression and the viewer's focus follows MooM's line of sight.

Caitlin :)