Monday 26 January 2015

5 Statements to form my learning contract

During the Conventions of Animation module:

I will study the material to understand the 12 Principles better.

I will focus on the exercises to be occupied with the principles in practice.

I will get feedback as many times as possible.

I will apply all that I have learned on the mini projects to create good work.

I will focus on every aspect to become a better animator.

Cartoon Ball Bounce - Flipbook Exercise



Critical Evaluation

This is the Cartoon Ball Bounce flipbook exercise. I created it using post notes, scanned them and used Adobe Photoshop to crop and align them better. I hidden some parts which did not belong to the pages and created the final video using Adobe After Effects.

The timing is the same as the previous flipbook example (24 frames), but there are two great elements of this animation: Spacing and ball deformation.
Slow in and slow out are used for the impression of weight, as the distance between the frames becomes greater when the sphere falls and less when it bounces off the ground. The alignment using the software improved the spacing.
Additionally, the ball actually changes its shape for the purpose of the cartoony feel.
It begins as a circle and since the frame before it makes contact with the ground, it lengthens. This stretch provides the aspect of momentum due to gravity, in a more expressive way. At the frame when the ball touches the ground, it becomes eliptical, then it stretches again and gradually becomes a circular sphere when it reaches the air. Squash, and the stretch afterwards, give the feeling of force because the ball is distorted and impetus during the elevation, respectively.

Finally, this was a very good example of squash and stretch and exaggeration. This work could be very helpful for later projects, because these attempts of shape distortion gave me the opportunity to create animation using these principles and have a little experience when applying them into software.

Physics Ball Bounce - Flipbook Exercise



Critical Evaluation

This is my Physics Ball Bounce flipbook exercise. I drew the frames on post notes, scanned them and used Adobe Photoshop to crop and align them better. Furthermore, I masked some parts of the image in order to only contain the pages on the screen, and finally composited the video using Adobe After Effects.

Spacing is the most succesful element of this animation, because the poses of the ball stand off from each other gradually as the sphere reaches the ground, and the opposite as it reaches the air again. This distance between the frames, creates the slow in and slow out, giving the impression of weight, acceleration as it falls and deceleration as it rises. In addition, the alignment using the software could possibly improve the spacing.

Nevertheless, that was an interesting example of spacing and weight. The flipbook exercise could help in later, more complex projects using software, because it was a great opportunity for experimenting with these factors when drawing the sphere poses on the post notes.


Friday 23 January 2015

Greetings to everyone!

My name is Lekakis Themistoklis, I study BA Computer Animation and this is my blog for Conventions of Animation module.