Investigation Blogpost: Week 5

 This Week's Work:

 Monday (11/08):

I was absent (it was my birthday!), but I still got some work done. I finished the build of the hair. I only had the middle of the hair to do. It was a process of trial and error trying to figure out what would look best for the character. Eventually, I readjusted two strands that sat on top of the "root" of the hair so that there was a simpler pattern to follow to fill it in. Some time duplicating and fixing up some curves and I got a hairpiece I was satisfied with. I made them into a mesh and joined them together. With that out of the way, I could move on to the clothes.

Tuesday & Wednesday (11/09-10):

I worked on the shoes for my character. I wanted them to look reminiscent of those pilgrim shoes (picture shown below). It makes the time period a little more ambiguous which I like!

I didn't model toes or anything so starting the shoes was simple. I duplicated the foot I had and got to working. I had to fix up some of the topography on the shoes because my feet were a little off. Fixing it didn't take too long after I found the problem. I sized up where the toes would be to match the shape of my reference and added a heel as well. Creating the shape of the shoe was easy enough. I just extruded for most of it (and created additional edge loops when necessary). For the toe part, I did some sculpting. For the buckle, I took a sub and made a hole in it. I beveled the edges for it to appear more realistic, and using the bool tool, I joined the buckle to the rest of the shoe. I deleted the foot from the body and arranged it so the leg would spill into the shoes.

 Thursday-Sunday (11/11-14):

I added a material to the character's body that acts as the foundation for the clothes (I also added a ring for some extra flair). For the robe part, I'm going to use the cloth physics provided by Blender and then pin the opening of the cloth to the character. I created the robe and applied the physics, but as I was experimenting with it, I realized I wanted to have the model rigged first. My intention essentially is to move the character into a default pose before finishing the robe (so I can better visualize its size/length). So, I followed this tutorial which showed me how to use Blender's easy rigging tool. I added an armature and aligned it to my model. I clicked a button that created the rig shown below. I'm going to follow a tutorial by Dikko to rig the face.

Next week, I want to finish rigging and the clothes. Then I'll spend the rest of the week developing the 4 characters (which will be much easier).

~

Dreamworks Animation has been creating animated content for decades now. A favorite characteristic of theirs is their expressive characters. 

To achieve such characters, a proper rigging system is needed to fashion the characters into whatever face the script/storyboard calls for. This video, for example, provides an overview of what rigging accomplishes for the Dreamworks team; An easy, simplified manner to morph their model into whatever dynamic poses necessary. It is flexible and streamlined for the most efficient process, which is very useful for the serialized show that this specific model belongs to.

While rigging is nothing new in the animation industry, Dreamworks are the pioneers in the new, streamlined way to do it. During the production of How to Train Your Dragon 2, Dreamworks created the Premo program which utilized CPU technology. Due to this change, animators were able to view in real-time what the character looked like as they were posing. Before, it was rough geometry that approximated what the character would look like. This was with their old program, Emo. Paul Carmen Dilorenzo, the research and developing director of Dreamworks, declared that the switch to Premo doubled - even tripled - animators' efficiency. You can read more about it here.

The history of animation is really interesting. Knowing how the advancement of technology assisted in creating more fluid characters in less time is fascinating. With my project, I want to deliver high energy and expressions through the movements. This is vital considering there won't be any dialogue. Dreamworks is a great source of inspiration in what I want to do with my work, and how I can achieve it. I want my rig to look as close as it can to their rigs so I can assure the best possible product. There will be limitations considering the difference in tech and programs, but I'll try my best!