Following this weeks session of animation 101 I was feeling rather stressed with the work I would need to do and the refinements of the ball exercises to get them correct and ready for submission in a few weeks. I decided to take this issue one step at a time and decided to try something new to get my creative mind flowing, and so I decided to do the armature activity that was optional but since as Johnny pointed out we would be working with armetures next semester and that it was a good idea to get acquainted with them and so thats what I decided to do. I had heard of armetures from the making of films like Wallace and Gromit so getting to work with one would be a big thrill and a new experience for me. Before I started I set up my camera that I booked and I was stationed in the same studio as the week before with only one working light from what I could tell so I adjusted the camera settings to give a brighter outlook on the screen learning from last time and thankfully there wasn't a grid in place.
I looked at the armature and it seemed very complicated in parts and I often wondered how they could stand up straight or how they achieve their movements. Thankfully Paige was on hand to show me how its done as she had done the exercise also. She told me that in order for this to work and keep the figure standing powerfully strong magnets were needed under the table to keep it balanced and this answered why the table was metal underneath the wooden set. This was very helpful information to learn and that whenever a movement needed to be made the magnets would have to be moved accordingly. With that done I set to work, before doing the waving exercise I decided to try and do a simple walk motion just so I could get to grips with using the armature and its mechanisms. I began by drafting up a bar sheet of what to do but I was still getting used to the idea of using them which was why I took a look at an example on black board to give me an idea of what to do.
BARSHEET:
Once planed I began my movements and I realised that my first attempt wasn't going to be perfect but this would be covered next semester so all I could do was at least try. To begin I decided to act out the movements then apply them to the armature such as left foot first right foot second and through taking the frames which were two per shot I had to show movement in the body and arms too so as I moved the legs I moved the body too. However there were some issues and one of them was the magnets, whilst they held the armature in place they proved exceedingly difficult to move and most of it was attributed to the lack of space I had to move them in with the camera and tripod but I couldn't risk moving the camera as Paige warned me it would be a big mistake so despite the difficulty I endured. One other thing was in the movement of the armatures walking positions as when I looked back to the stop motion frame footage I could see the walking seemed a little off and it looked like a person struggling through mud or on sand. However this was a first attempt at a walk cycle so this was to be expected and hopefully the feedback I get would help me in further development.
For a final touch I added a little finesse to the ending of the stopmotion and motioned the character to give a wave to the camera as it left the frame which whilst unsure was a part of the brief but this was my approach to this exercise and as Johnny said with the block interaction exercise we could add a personality to the character themselves. Upon completion the film was made and saved to my pen drive to be converted to a quick time file later on in media encoder.
Animation:
I then set to work on the waving exercise but before starting I referred back to the brief to see what it was I had to do and it was the armature waving to get someones attention or waving whilst watching a tennis match. I decided to do the getting someones attention piece and drafted up the story board for my animation.
The story being the armature would begin waving to get a friends attention then realising his friend didn't see him so he motions to whistle for attention then doing a classic cooeee wave with its hand. I wasn't sure if this was the best way to approach it at first given the brief but I decided to let my imagination be my guide for this exercise. I estimated the number of frames that I would need and even acted it out to get an idea of movement, then translated the arm movements to the character when raising its arm to wave or even standing on its tip toes to see if its friend saw him. Whilst working though I did regrettably hit the camera slightly but it didn't move that much and so I worked around it but also knowing to be extra careful when moving to do the armature or magnets under the desk.
One thing that I found difficult in this instance was the fact the armature lacked a head to move the hands to in order to perform the whistling movement as the only thing it had was the attachment rod on its neck. Thankfully though I improvised and moved the neck forwards towards the hands and to show that the character was whistling I moved its back and spine backwards and forwards to show the whistling movements when doing a two fingered whistle. For the cooee waving I did a small tip toe movement and made sure the hand was positioned so that I could move it on the pivot point in the armatures wrist. I took several frames of the wave before I was satisfied and the film was made into an AVI file and saved to my pen drive for later on.
Animation:
Looking back on this exercise I would say that its given me some insight into how armatures work and even some idea of what the filmmakers of Wallace and Gromit had to go through when doing their stopmotion films with armature characters and the requirements of magnets. I felt that when using the armeture I was experiencing what the filmmakers had to do with each movement and how the inner-workings of a puppet had to be moved to give that particular movement or position in a film shot. Though it was challenging at times I rather enjoyed the experience and with the feedback it'll show that I'm at a starting point for next semester and it gave me an idea of what to expect from stopmotions in modules to come.
I looked at the armature and it seemed very complicated in parts and I often wondered how they could stand up straight or how they achieve their movements. Thankfully Paige was on hand to show me how its done as she had done the exercise also. She told me that in order for this to work and keep the figure standing powerfully strong magnets were needed under the table to keep it balanced and this answered why the table was metal underneath the wooden set. This was very helpful information to learn and that whenever a movement needed to be made the magnets would have to be moved accordingly. With that done I set to work, before doing the waving exercise I decided to try and do a simple walk motion just so I could get to grips with using the armature and its mechanisms. I began by drafting up a bar sheet of what to do but I was still getting used to the idea of using them which was why I took a look at an example on black board to give me an idea of what to do.
BARSHEET:
 |
| Walk cycle bar sheet |
 |
| Walk cycle bar sheet |
Once planed I began my movements and I realised that my first attempt wasn't going to be perfect but this would be covered next semester so all I could do was at least try. To begin I decided to act out the movements then apply them to the armature such as left foot first right foot second and through taking the frames which were two per shot I had to show movement in the body and arms too so as I moved the legs I moved the body too. However there were some issues and one of them was the magnets, whilst they held the armature in place they proved exceedingly difficult to move and most of it was attributed to the lack of space I had to move them in with the camera and tripod but I couldn't risk moving the camera as Paige warned me it would be a big mistake so despite the difficulty I endured. One other thing was in the movement of the armatures walking positions as when I looked back to the stop motion frame footage I could see the walking seemed a little off and it looked like a person struggling through mud or on sand. However this was a first attempt at a walk cycle so this was to be expected and hopefully the feedback I get would help me in further development.
 |
| walking attempt. |
For a final touch I added a little finesse to the ending of the stopmotion and motioned the character to give a wave to the camera as it left the frame which whilst unsure was a part of the brief but this was my approach to this exercise and as Johnny said with the block interaction exercise we could add a personality to the character themselves. Upon completion the film was made and saved to my pen drive to be converted to a quick time file later on in media encoder.
Animation:
I then set to work on the waving exercise but before starting I referred back to the brief to see what it was I had to do and it was the armature waving to get someones attention or waving whilst watching a tennis match. I decided to do the getting someones attention piece and drafted up the story board for my animation.
The story being the armature would begin waving to get a friends attention then realising his friend didn't see him so he motions to whistle for attention then doing a classic cooeee wave with its hand. I wasn't sure if this was the best way to approach it at first given the brief but I decided to let my imagination be my guide for this exercise. I estimated the number of frames that I would need and even acted it out to get an idea of movement, then translated the arm movements to the character when raising its arm to wave or even standing on its tip toes to see if its friend saw him. Whilst working though I did regrettably hit the camera slightly but it didn't move that much and so I worked around it but also knowing to be extra careful when moving to do the armature or magnets under the desk.
 |
| Bar sheet for waving movement |
One thing that I found difficult in this instance was the fact the armature lacked a head to move the hands to in order to perform the whistling movement as the only thing it had was the attachment rod on its neck. Thankfully though I improvised and moved the neck forwards towards the hands and to show that the character was whistling I moved its back and spine backwards and forwards to show the whistling movements when doing a two fingered whistle. For the cooee waving I did a small tip toe movement and made sure the hand was positioned so that I could move it on the pivot point in the armatures wrist. I took several frames of the wave before I was satisfied and the film was made into an AVI file and saved to my pen drive for later on.
Animation:
Looking back on this exercise I would say that its given me some insight into how armatures work and even some idea of what the filmmakers of Wallace and Gromit had to go through when doing their stopmotion films with armature characters and the requirements of magnets. I felt that when using the armeture I was experiencing what the filmmakers had to do with each movement and how the inner-workings of a puppet had to be moved to give that particular movement or position in a film shot. Though it was challenging at times I rather enjoyed the experience and with the feedback it'll show that I'm at a starting point for next semester and it gave me an idea of what to expect from stopmotions in modules to come.
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