Showreel 2010

yeah, its another year for showreel, didn't put background music in it, but you will still find some surprises in it. :)

very first time facial animation test

This is the refined version, not the final version.
This is my first time doing lip sync, have no idea how to do it properly, I just did as I felt like it ;)

rig is from book CD 'stop staring'.
sound file is from 11 sec club, Nov. contest file.

time taken: 6 hours.

Byebye Honors study, Hello animation

After a bit of drama today handing in the exegesis, I feel much more relaxed. It has been a long journey since the start of the year. the research study was such a pain. But I knew I had to do it, and had to do it well. I didn't let myself down. There were many great friends and the special one who has shown their support to me, without their support, the thesis would not be possible. So, I am really grateful.

The project turned out really nice. If you are interested in 3D character animation, you can go and visit my website. www.nothingsweet.com/Honors

Next, I am thinking learning driving and playing piano and my beloved guitar during the break. The online animation class starts next year, I look forward to it. :)

Honors Research Study

(For more details and videos please visit www.nothingsweet.com/Honors)

Hello everyone, this is Wen, this page is for my Honors research study.

The research study related to many different areas such as acting, animation principles, emotions, body language and 3D animation.

My primary focus is to use the combination of acting techniques and animation principles in 3D animation to convey character’s emotions. The animation use only body movements to convey emotions.

The Early Experiment section has some early animation tests I did at the beginning of the research. As the result of the experiment, new animation tests in Happy, Anger and Sad section were created based on the new animation process and workflow I re-developed.

Before you watch animation, take a look at some notes for it.

The animation tests follow the the following order:

1. Animation without acting techniques and animation principles.

(basic animation)

2. Animation without acting techniques but with animation principles.

(technical centric animation)

3. Animation with acting techniques but without animation principles.

(performance centric animation)

4. Animation with acting techniques and animation principles.

(advanced animation)

Rules are based on the following 2x2 matrix:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emotion one: Happy
Notes: Happy animation tests are partially under the consideration of 2x2 matrix. For instance, there was no character development and action analysis for this set of animation tests. In order to demonstrate the purpose here, I shall use the table.

Background story:

A girl who won the first price in a game. This animation is the moment where she walks to the podium.

1. Basic animation.

Analysis:

It contains no timing, no clear poses, no sign of animation principles such as overlapping, squash & stretch. Acting wise, the excitement need to be more exaggerated. Action seems boring and lifeless.

2. Technical centric animation.

Analysis:

Better timing, improved overlapping, no slips on her feet.

3. Performance centric animation.

Analysis:

Bad timing, no overlapping, unclear posing, very snappy actions.

Acting wise, she shows more excitement. Double bounce walk nicely demonstrate the happiness.

Note: At the point where I created the animation, I only had mental notes on acting, there was no character developed or action analyzed during the process.

4. Advanced animation.

Analysis:

better timing, obvious overlapping action on her entire body, specially arms.

Acting wise: because of the lack of character development and action analysis, even the animation appears to be more interesting and dynamic, the actions do not make sense. it seems very random actions.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emotion two: Anger

Background story:

A guy who is playing a deck of cards. one of the sudden, a paper ball flys over and destroys his cards tower. However more paper balls are coming. He gets really angry.

1. Basic animation.

Analysis:

It contains no timing, no clear poses, no sign of animation principles such as overlapping, squash & stretch.

Acting wise, he is more violent rather than being angry. Base on the character’s personality, he is the type of person who has a soft heart, even he is angry, he would not do such thing.

2. Technical centric animation.

Analysis:

Better timing, improved overlapping.(where he hits the table)

3. Performance centric animation.

Analysis:

Bad timing, no overlapping on arms, very even actions.

Acting wise, he fits into the character, not so violent but still show a sense of anger.

4. Advanced animation.

Analysis:

better timing, clearer secondary action on the chair. obvious overlapping action on his left arm when he points at somewhere.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emotion Three: Sad

Background story:

A girl who just lost her beloved puppy, she tried to find it everywhere. She is extremely upset. when she gets home, she walks into her room. and that’s where the story begins.

1. Basic animation.

Analysis:

no timing, unclear poses, no sign of animation principles such as overlapping, squash & stretch.

Acting wise, she does not fit into the character, there is no enough exaggeration in actions. At the end, the action contain an emotion other than sadness, which is disappointment. It is confusing.

2. Technical centric animation.

Analysis:

Better timing, improved overlapping on her body. Better sense of weight and tiredness.

3. Performance centric animation.

Analysis:

Bad timing, no overlapping on arms, very even actions.

Acting wise, she fits into the character very well, base on the character development, she is a very exaggerated person, over react to anything. Through the animation, she only shows her sadness.

4. Advanced animation.

Analysis:

More obvious overlapping actions through her entire body at the beginning. Clearer dragging on her feet, it shows a sense of weight and tiredness. Actions happen in order.

Squash and stretch displayed on her body when she sits down.

Taking a break

Sorry guys, hmm I am taking a break from AM. Currently I am working my Honors degree, but don't you worry, for those who are interested in my animation, I will keep posting my latest animation here.
Ok a little brief about my project, it is about exploring some acting techniques and animation principles to create some animation clips, each clips contain different emotions. So the idea is to convey those emotions by utilizing those techniques and principles.

AM week 11 final

Class 3 week 7 final

Week 4 final

Class 3 week 3 refining

Hi folks, here comes the refining pass, I still need to improve the curves in graph editor, right now its a mess. :S, but the animation turns out nicely. :D

Class 3!!!!

Hi everyone, I'm now in Class 3 at Animation Mentor, so happy, this term, I have Jalil Sadool as my mentor, he is awesome, tho he is very tough, he said he never give students A!! but it is motivation to me, I will work hard and harder!!!

This is Week 2 assignment

Week 12 Final animation

animation group on FB

I recently started my FB again, but this time I created my animation public group, mainly want to share my latest animation. Also I want to share some of the animation tips and tricks I learned from the past. Putting myself out there, you can find me at http://www.facebook.com/wenzhao?ref=profile#!/group.php?gid=371017444682&ref=mf

:P

Animation Mentor class 2 Week 10

Hi everyone, peew, finally I was having some problems with the hip movements, and arms, it seems like I have gimble lock happening on the arms, but now pretty much all fixed. Crits are surely welcome.

Week 9 Dancing re-blocking

This week assignment was fun :) compare to the last assignment, I chose the right one. Last time I chose the one was too hard for me *sigh*

Week 7 Drunken stumble final animation

Week 5 drunken stumble blocking

week 4 final

Week 3 turn around and one big step

Back from AM term break

hey guys,I'm back from the term break, this term actually started last monday, but oh well, i was kinda lazy :P
For last week assignment, we had to shot a reference video of an action choice from a pick list, well I picked the one which the character from stopped position then make one big step forward then settle. its fun, I wanted to stick to K.I.S.S principles, and make things easier then tweak the final animation at the end.

here is the video I came up with, I chose the #6. and maybe combine with #4.

week 11+12

the final weeks, finishing off the personality walk, and put all the assignment together.