Upon finishing the tutorial on Buckid we were then introduced to the armatures we'd be using in stopmotion animation and Joe was showing us the aspects of setting up and working with the armatures in the stopmotion suite. When using the armatures we would need to book them out at the same time as the stopmotion camera, as we would need them for walking animations. We were then shown the armature itself which some of us recognised from using it in 101, and even shown the different types of magnets that we could use to hold them in place including a few other methods such as drilling holes in the stage and screwing the armature in place for a standing pose. However I personally thought this seemed a little dangerous and could damage the stage, Joe assured us however we would only use this method if the story we wrote needed a flat base.
One thing that was crucial was that before we started an animation we needed to first un twist the joints of the armature done by whoever used it previously. This would be because Joe informed us that if we animated with twisted joints it could have a bad effect on the animation. One other element is the way the joints are tightened on the armature as the tension would impact the movement and if too loose the puppet would just fall to the ground and not stand even with the magnets. When doing an animation much like the buckid rig in maya the armature would be in a natural standing position much like we would in the real world as Johny showed us earlier in a page of Andrew Loomis's figure life drawing works we stand like an "S" shape which was a very useful fact to learn about figure drawing.
Like many things there was the aspect of health and safety to consider especially when using the strong magnets. There was a risk of pinching our fingers between the magnets which Joe warned us would be very painful, this did get me a bit concerned as I knew from experience how strong those magnets were when working with them and how difficult it could be to disconnect them from the table. Joe however had a solution to this and that was to apply them at an angle then place them down like a lever, which seemed like a creative solution. Our main concern in terms of positioning the armature was in the chest and hips when holding it but as Joe mentioned " The technique will be personal to you.
We were then shown two different types of puppets such as
the wire armature which would be used in Wallace and Gromit shorts and a ball point puppet that was used in a program called Truckers. In my personal view it seemed rather creepy and I felt rather uncomfortable around it, and the material felt rather rough and dusty and it was actually latex fabric, but the reason it was rather crumble looking was because Joe told us the problem with using latex as a material was that it would degrade and break down over time. One of the biggest surprises for me was seeing a puppet used in a children's television show named Rubberdubbers a programme I used to watch in my childhood youth.
It was here because Joe was actually an animator from Gosgrove hall where they made shows like the Rubberdubbers and to actually be holding one of the puppets from the show it felt like such an honour to be holding a character puppet from one of my old favourite shows as a child. Though we had to be careful as the eyes were made of
a magnetic solution and could easily come off as I discovered when trying to move the eyes, but the pieces were put back into place. Looking at the models they had metal plated feet which we realised were due to the magnets below them to make them stand up right. The bottom line for our work this week would be to use the university armatures for posing.
We returned to the class room and had a recap on the lesson and our task for this week would be to use our pose sheets from last week to position the armatures/buckid rig into said pose. There was however an issue whilst we could do the buckid independently we would need to work in groups for the stop mo armatures if in the event there wasn't enough in the stock room. The task seemed simple enough but I wasn't sure if we needed to do the six poses using each method, Johny assured me however that "it would be like giving you a shopping list" therefor I decided to do three stop mo armature poses and three buckid's as this seemed to even the scales. However Johny told us we needed to be aware of how we stand in real life which was where Joes saying of Observe Translate Animate comes in.
Much like 101 we could act out the pose then apply it to the puppet, but it needed to be in a relaxed position and to avoid any 90% angles and have an awareness of gravity. Looking back on the session I would think it was very insightful and could even help when we start doing the pose to pose aspect of our work. Also to even look at puppets used in shows I felt was very inspiring and motivational. My plan for this week would be to start with the armature poses then the buckid rigs for the poses and even experiment with the rig to get an idea of how it works using what I've learned today.
In conclusion I would think that I'm making a good start on this module but knowing that it'll only get more difficult along the way means giving me time to prepare for whats to come.
One thing that was crucial was that before we started an animation we needed to first un twist the joints of the armature done by whoever used it previously. This would be because Joe informed us that if we animated with twisted joints it could have a bad effect on the animation. One other element is the way the joints are tightened on the armature as the tension would impact the movement and if too loose the puppet would just fall to the ground and not stand even with the magnets. When doing an animation much like the buckid rig in maya the armature would be in a natural standing position much like we would in the real world as Johny showed us earlier in a page of Andrew Loomis's figure life drawing works we stand like an "S" shape which was a very useful fact to learn about figure drawing.
Like many things there was the aspect of health and safety to consider especially when using the strong magnets. There was a risk of pinching our fingers between the magnets which Joe warned us would be very painful, this did get me a bit concerned as I knew from experience how strong those magnets were when working with them and how difficult it could be to disconnect them from the table. Joe however had a solution to this and that was to apply them at an angle then place them down like a lever, which seemed like a creative solution. Our main concern in terms of positioning the armature was in the chest and hips when holding it but as Joe mentioned " The technique will be personal to you.
It was here because Joe was actually an animator from Gosgrove hall where they made shows like the Rubberdubbers and to actually be holding one of the puppets from the show it felt like such an honour to be holding a character puppet from one of my old favourite shows as a child. Though we had to be careful as the eyes were made of
We returned to the class room and had a recap on the lesson and our task for this week would be to use our pose sheets from last week to position the armatures/buckid rig into said pose. There was however an issue whilst we could do the buckid independently we would need to work in groups for the stop mo armatures if in the event there wasn't enough in the stock room. The task seemed simple enough but I wasn't sure if we needed to do the six poses using each method, Johny assured me however that "it would be like giving you a shopping list" therefor I decided to do three stop mo armature poses and three buckid's as this seemed to even the scales. However Johny told us we needed to be aware of how we stand in real life which was where Joes saying of Observe Translate Animate comes in.
Much like 101 we could act out the pose then apply it to the puppet, but it needed to be in a relaxed position and to avoid any 90% angles and have an awareness of gravity. Looking back on the session I would think it was very insightful and could even help when we start doing the pose to pose aspect of our work. Also to even look at puppets used in shows I felt was very inspiring and motivational. My plan for this week would be to start with the armature poses then the buckid rigs for the poses and even experiment with the rig to get an idea of how it works using what I've learned today.
In conclusion I would think that I'm making a good start on this module but knowing that it'll only get more difficult along the way means giving me time to prepare for whats to come.
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