NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 4 HND - Kibosh (Obstacle Course TV show) animation R&D

For this project, we were tasked with creating a 3D animation based around Kibosh, a fictional obstacle course TV show that is inspired by Wipeout and Ninja Warrior.

According to the brief the project is about: learning the processes of animating characters and scenes, exploring the development of body and facial animations in order to portray a convincing performance through the use of animation, learning the process of animating characters and scenes, using this to explore the development of body and facial animations of characters for cinema, television and entertainment while exploring the different processes and stages of creating animations.

We were also tasked with developing the ability to present a narrative concept through the use of an animated character, with the context that we are "working for the new research and development department at Third floor films." The company's been approached by a new production management company seeking to branch into animation in advertising, potentially looking into creating an animated feature in the future.  

As a result, for this project we needed to present research and produce a brief TV indent, at a professional standard, for the upcoming (fictional) obstacle course show ‘Kibosh!’

(This is based heavily on Total Wipeout: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk3gT7AL-rQ and Ninja Warrior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IARzaXV8W0E).  

Also, as stated in the brief context, we are "working for the new research and development department at Third floor films", effectively meaning that rather than just heavily focusing on the animation itself, it is also significantly important to justify each descision made based on gathered research.

This ident will display a simple animated character attempting an obstacle from the show with each classmate's individual animations, as a group, collectively making up the final ident. This would then be presented to the "production management company seeking to branch into animation" detailed in the brief's context.

I started this project by by creating an animation strategy based off what was required in the brief. The animation strategy consisted of a list that encompassed the many different processes that will need to be completed throughout the creation of the project. This list of what is required can be seen below:

• Create an Asset list to show what elements will be required for the creation of the animation.
  

• Storyboard the animation / animation ident.
  

• Create a basic playboard for what the animation may look like.
  

• Create a project pipeline.

• Collect and present research conducted.

• Create the final ident animation using the given preset character (Beefcake) in a CGI scene.
  

• Launch promotions for the product.

As a result of this, for my project I decided that certain parameters and constraints are set for the creation of the animation. These constraints consisted of:

• Timeline / Video Duration - The animation must last between 5 and 7 seconds long in order to fit the time shown for each animation ident.
  

• Target Audience - The animation should be applicable to all ages and fitness levels, however mostly family audience similar to Wipeout and Ninja Warrior.
  

• Required Language - If there is any writing or spoken language it must be in English.

• Aspect Ratios - The video should be set to standard aspect ratios (W 16: H 9).
  

• Technical Details - Any colour/colour correction, characters or specific styles can be added however they are less important than the animation itself.

Why use CGI for the animation?:

 

Each type of animation has its advantages and disadvantages for use in the Kibosh animation, each bringing their own target audiences and methods of production.

While Hand drawn / Cartoon drawing can appeal to a young audience, as it can be easily animated in a childish and family friendly way, typically, as of now it is often used to appeal to older audience, as that was the style of animation that those people grew up with and likely wouldn't attract the more modern, younger audiences.

Similarly, Stop Motion can have a childish and family friendly style, with a clay and old fashioned appearance enticing both older and younger audiences alike. However, Stop Motion takes a lot of time and would be in development for significantly longer than other alternative types of animation.

As for CGI however, while it would be possible to create a photorealistic animation, it would not appeal to a larger audience because it would not appeal as much to a younger audience due to its more mature and serious appearance. As the show 'Kibosh' is supposed to be  family oriented it requires an appeal to both younger and older audiences 

Similarly to cartoon animation, CGI also allows for a more childish, family friendly and cartoonish appearance while also appealing to a more modern audience and younger audience. This would be the best pick, not only because it can mimic the styles of both Stop Motion animation and Hand drawn animation, but it also has significantly more flexibility, with it being able to be edited at any part of the animation at any time, helping to create a significantly more fluid workflow.

It would also be better to use the pre-made VFX / 3D modelled character "Beefcake" that was provided to us because it allows for significantly less time spent on development of assets and instead allows for more focus and time spent designing and creating the final animation.

Once I had outlined the constraints, what I was required to do and what animation style I would ultimately use, I decided to create a Production Pipeline detailing the different development phases and processes that will need to be completed through the creation of this project. This was done to better understand the processes within the project. This Production Pipeline can be seen below:

Next I created an Asset list to keep track of what models and resources would be needed for the animation. These included:

• A 3D modelled rigged character for animation (Beefcake)

• 3D models (obstacle course)

• Possible Water effect particles (VFX)

Then, in order to visualise how the animation may play out, I decided to create a playboard showcasing an idea for the flow and content of the animated ident.

Meanwhile, for the creation of the animation ident, we were given a ready made character called "BeefCake" which would be used in each of the class's animations. In order to familiarise myself with the character, I decided I could find out how to move and animate the character through the use of testing and revision.

This led me to creating a Maya project to experiment with different positioning and animation ideas using the 3D rigged character, allowing me to understand how each of the rig's joints moved and how I could use the model in my final animation.

NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 4 HND - Indie Game Advert Rotoscope Testing

For my video game advert, I started the production phase by filming each live action shot using multiple different versions of camera placement and direction. Even with the limited space for filming, I made sure to create many different shots for each scene, some from alternate angles and with alternate actions. Afterwards, they were syphoned through to pick the best scenes for the advert.

These live action shots turned out well, with each scene fitting together well and accurately following the storyboard I created. From these shots I picked out the scene in which the character kicks open a door, I did this to import the selected footage into NukeX, using the software to create an assortment of rotoscope shapes to mask out the door frame, while keeping other objects in the scene, such as the character's leg and gun, as well as the door itself.

In order to do this, I started by creating a Read and Roto node and inking them together, while linking them to the view node so they could be seen and edited. Then, I imported a series of scripts that would allow me to change the apearence of the rotoscope from the default appearence, to a red highlighted appearance which highlights what will be visible or the rotoscope with the background removed, showing only what will be visible in the final product.

This, therefore, allowed me to more accurately position and edit my roto as it gave me a more accurate visual representation of what the final rotoscope would look like. Also I could edit any parts of the roto that dont overlap the areas needed or areas that overlap into the background.

Overall, I believe that this went well as there is very little deformation in the rotoscope and the final rotoscope product fits well into the doorframe, which will alow me to add the animated VFX shot into the image.

NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 4 HND - Kibosh (Facial Rig Example: After Effects)

During this project we were tasked with creating a 2D animated Facial Rig through the use of both Photoshop and Adobe After Effects, animating the rig to synchronize with a voice line of our choosing.

In order to do this, I first used photoshop to draw a series of different mouth expressions, based around the pronunciation of different letters (A, O, F. etc...), using multiple existing images as a reference for each one.

Once this was completed, I created a text to speech sentence saying "Hello World" using an online text to speech website (nuance.com) and using OBS to record the output. Then I imported both the mouth expressions and the recorded sentence into After Effects.

Finally, I organized each of the mouth expression syllable types to link with the text to speech voice, mimicking the flow of the sentence and appearing as if they were speaking.

Overall, I believe that this task went well, as the expressions accurately synchronize with the spoken works, however, if I could improve on this I would change the sentence to be longer so that the video would be easier to watch or understand.