AM Class 3 Weeks 3 + 4: Inbetween

Here's my submitted Shot for week 4.

What I learned: 

#1: Don't wait to press on in the assignement. 

Waiting for direction from my mentor stopped me from working Sunday through Tuesday. That's half my work week.

I could have gotten much more done if I had been bold enough to do what I knew needed to be done.

#2: Working with props? Plan accordingly. 

- The box I was working with was merely posed in place during Blocking and Blocking plus. As soon as I began the transition into linear and splined curves the box began to show a life of it's own.

That's when I chose to constrain the box to a hand. This late choice took up most of my polishing time, and could have been prepared earlier if I had made that transition earlier; say after Blocking with story telling poses. 

#3: Tween Key is a tremendously helpful tool.

- Tween Key takes two neighboring key poses and invents a new key directly in between those first two. Allows a much quicker work flow. One thing I did overlook using the Tween Key was the definition in the feet. 

#4: Blocking Plus is the time to define the feet hands, pathways and arcs. 

- Instead of blindly in betweening keys it would have been more productive to analyze where those breakdowns were most needed to clarify the movement. 

Below are the earlier versions of my Box lift shot.

above: submitted week 3 Blocking Plus
below: Mid week Blocking Plus-Plus

And now for my 2nd Class 3 shot!...

Planning for next week: JUMP SHOT

Video Reference:

Thumbnails (Story telling poses)

More Thumbnails with a Shot layout image and costume description. 

Just for fun I traced the arcs during the fancy jump. Note the figure eight in the extending arm. 

Learned: Red Markers are the toughest to clean off my screen. 

Fun stuff in store this week. 

I'm excited for this shot, but still trying to find the balance with my current work load outside of animation.

Footloose the Musical is in full swing and is going very well. Now that we're in show mode there are less rehearsals and more time to animate. 

My Critical thinking Summer school class is also in full swing and expanding in the work load. This is the first class I can recall having to write a 10 page paper for. Love the content of the class. Do wish there was more time to absorb new information. 

My birthday was also this week. Felt lots of love from friends and family. I'm so grateful to have so many loving people in my life who accept me despite my schedule craziness. 

That's all for this week and thanks for stopping by,

--Max

Class 3 Weeks 1+2: A Little Pick-Me-Up

Hey There,

Well Class 3 is under way and after a Q+A swap I became a student of the amazing Mike Gasaway.

"Make something simple look complex."

These were words of advice for planning our first class 3 shot.

And so...bring on the Box Lift!

Index:
1. Video Reference
2. Thumbnails
3. Pre-Blocking
4. Blocking Pass (with Mike G's limit)
5. Outside Commitments

1. SO MUCH REFERENCE!

Some fun takes that I really enjoyed, but everyone's feedback recommended a heavier box, and the heavier the box the less fancy I could get with the takes. I kept filling the box with books until the box was so heavy, or I was so tired, that I could only perform a basic box lift.

Here's my selected reference:



- Some good use of traveling forward and back as well as side to side.
- Get to throw the box!
- Good for demonstrating weight, balance, and force.

2. Thumbnails

Simple drawing with specific notes on the movement
- Drawing the pathways of feet and hands was something I learned to include in my thumbnails.




3. Pre Blocking

Something I found useful,

a Blocking Pass with no timing.

The idea is that peers can easily flip through the keyframes and check the poses. This works because the AM Public review sections allow frame by frame flipping.

4. Blocking:

Mike Gasaway's instructions were to use only 8-12 different keys to tell our story. This limit was to get us thinking about Story Telling Poses, a unit more basic then key poses.

Some steps are missing, but I was able to focus on greater detail with less poses.

5. These first two weeks have been tough having to balance many different responsibilities. In addition to Animation Mentor I'm also taking a summer school course in reading and composition, playing the lead in a professional production of Footloose the Musical, and working as a designer and programmer for my college Marquee. Everything takes time, and some things have taken a backseat to larger priorities, but all in all everything has worked out pretty harmoniously. All my homework is getting done, my lines and dances are getting memorized, my work is on schedule, and my AM work is showing signs of improvement. 

I guess with everything going on, I needed a little Pick-me-up.

Thanks for stopping by.

--Max

Many thanks and gratitude to the AM Technical Support Staff.

This week wouldn't have happened without them.

Uhh...Houston, We have a problem.

Class 2 weeks 8-12 Just keep Pulling

Hey There,

I've been on break from AM for almost a week and it's time to get pumped.

What better way can that be done then to recap my last assignment from Class 2

Here's the final shot Submitted in Week 12

First Spline Pass

Blocking Plus 

Original Blocking

The most interesting things about the making of this shot were:

1. Keeping my ego in check when your Mentor's ideas are better then your original ones.

2. Exaggeration, Exaggeration, Exaggeration.

3. Playing to the camera.

4. Working in a cartoony style.

Looking at this shot and my previous dance shot, I realize, so far, I like my blocking passes better then my finals.
Something seems to get lost when I go into spline. It becomes smooth with very little texture, as apposed to blocking, which is naturally sharp and surprising.
It is very likely that what I'm seeing is me not attending to my timing and spacing, while trying to build appealing poses, and smooth transitions between poses.

This Term, Class 3, I will bring more attention to poses early on, so I can focus on the timing and spacing as my work progresses from blocking to animation.

Variety, texture, and entertainment value. Those are the goals.

Thanks for stopping by,
--Max

"Yeah, thanks for visiting. Next time bring milk."