Problem solving
- 2. Equipment
- 3. Rode Mic and Tascam I will be using a Rode mic and aTascam audio recorder to get the narration/ voiceover for my video.The reason I am using the Rode mic instead of just theTascam is because it has better audio and is easier to directly capture audio. It will also have better audio sensitivity so will pick up the audio cleaner.Although because of this I could run into some problems. One of them could be that if the mic sensitivity is too high it could pick up background noise and if the sensitivity is too low the audio may sound muffled or too quiet.To overcome this problem I will do a series of tests at different sensitivities in a quiet room to find the best audio quality. I will also try to get 1 on 1 recording sessions although I'm not sure how many peoples voices I will be using in my project.The reason I would do 1 on 1 sessions is to minimize the chance of any background noise being created. I think using these methods it should work out quite well.
- 4. Another problem I could encounter is the audio recorder running out of space or there not being a suitable place for recording.To overcome these problems I will try to book some sort of music room as a recording studio so I could get the highest quality audio and get a quiet room. I would also remove all of the audio beforehand from theTascam or move it onto a computer to get as much space cleared as possible. I doubt this will be a problem as I don’t have too much speech planned for my project. Overall I think the problems for the recording of my project are quite easy to overcome and I don’t think I will come into contact with many problems over the course of audio recording, especially if I use all the techniques I've been speaking about here. Rode Mic and Tascam
- 5. Photoshop andAfter Effects I will be using Photoshop and After Effects for the animation stages of my project.The reason I am going to use two pieces of software is because using just Photoshop wont do the job well enough or as easily as if I were to use After Effects. For example in Photoshop if you would like to rotate an image you would have to use a different layer for every frame of the rotation, whereas in After Effects no new layers have to be made and it can all be done in one movement. Some problems that could occur due to the usage of two different software's could be the size of the screen being different for each software and also the fluidity of the animation.This would be because Photoshop generally looks a lot more jumpy and less smooth that the movements in After Effects. To overcome this I could only do certain sections that don’t show as much movement in Photoshop or just do green screened effects in there to add in After Effects or Premiere. I will also double check my screen sizes in each software to make sure there the same size.
- 6. Illustrator and Photoshop Another problem I could encounter in some software's especially Photoshop and Illustrator is creating the same art style as it’s a lot harder to draw or create illustrations in Photoshop although it’s easier to make text and more geometric things. For this reason all of my characters and most moving segments that have to look more fluid will drawn frame by frame in illustrator. For example if I were to draw a simple face it would look a lot cleaner due to the larger range of brush tools and also the auto smooth line modification that can be found on Illustrator. Illustrator: Photoshop:
- 7. Premiere I have encountered problems in Premiere before such as the audio corrupting resulting in me having to re record the whole audio. I have also had certain clips get corrupted and because I used to just export the finished result and not save the Photoshop or After Effects document I had to remake sections. For this reason I will keep a file with all of the original Photoshop, Illustrator andAfter effects documents and then another folder for MP4’s and JPG’s. this way I will be able to re-render videos that may become corrupt etc. I will also save my Premiere file at different intervals under different names so if I lose one I can start without losing much work.
- 8. Huion H420 Graphics Tablet I wasn’t planning on using the graphics tablet until I decided to revisit it and take some time to get to know it a bit better. Personally I think that this image turned out better than the other one where I used a mouse. I picked a face with lots of round edges so that I could see if the tablet had good control. One problem I ran into with and even without the graphics tablet is that its hard to get sharp edges without creating a giant black line or smudge look.To overcome this problem I could probably create a different more sharp custom brush although I want my animation to have most of the characters round anyway as when looking into shape theory, I found that round means more happy.As the animation goes on subtle things such as the clouds and or trees will become more sharp instead of me juristically changing the appearance of my main character.
- 9. Computer I will be using the computer to do all of my work on. I will also be using this as the main place for all my work to be saved and stored. Some problems this could cause are, having different versions of software then the ones I use at home, for example the Photoshop software versions not being the same. Another problem that could occur would be the loss or corruption of my saved work files on this computer.To overcome these problems I could back up all of my work onto a memory stick or onto the office online.To overcome the software issue I could try to save the work I do at home to an older version of the application I am using so that it will work on the college macs.
- 10. Techniques
- 11. LineWork, Brushes and Colors Some techniques I will use consist of creating my own custom brushes to create different effects. For example here are 3 brushes.The top is the standard brush and the second is a custom brush that I think just gives it a lot more life to the drawing and is more my personalized style.The third brush would be used for crating a kids drawing looking style. Some other techniques that I would probably use is creating the character parts in Illustrator such as the body, arms and all the moving components on separate layers, transporting them into Photoshop to add color and then finally moving them into After Effects as separate layers so I can move them about. I think it’s a lot easier to add colors in Photoshop and its also easier to get a larger range of colors.
- 12. Animation I have a few techniques prepared for my animation.The main one is utilizing the fact that in After Effects you can import Photoshop and Illustrator files which means I could put each limb and feature that needs to be able to move on a separate layer and then move them around easily.This is better than when I just used to use Photoshop because it’s a lot easier to get advanced and smoother movements although I'm not as confident in After Effects so I will need to put a few more hours practice into it. Another technique I will use when animating is using green screens and removing them in Premiere.This is a good way to keep the original Photoshop or After Effects files clean and minimize the layers. It is also a good way of separating characters from backgrounds which makes creating a scene a lot easier and clearer. I used this technique in my first year FMP and it worked quite well and you can’t tell a green screen was used.
- 13. Ability
- 14. Software
- 15. Software
- 16. Art/ Drawing skills • One of my strengths is having some knowledge how to draw human features which means I will be able to draw my character a lot of times which is wat I will need to do to animate properly. It also means that during the sketching out of my characters I will be able to draw ides easier. • I also think this will help with deciding on certain color schemes and compositions of certain scenes and characters. I would like colors to play a big roll in my project as from previously researching color theory and how each color portrays a different emotion. Another reason I think this skill will help me because I would use color theory to help the audience feel a certain way about a character or location because I can’t add a lot of context to the characters and scenes in a few minuets of animation.
- 17. Experiments
- 18. Animation Styles 1)This is an animation style I am familiar with as I used it a little in my last project and I took inspiration from the cut scenes inCrash Bandicoot Mind Over Mutant. I think this art and animation styles looks really good and its very creative and probably hasn’t been seen before to do the type of work I am creating. For this reason I think it is a good contestant for the final animation style. Some strengths of this style are that its unique and looks aesthetically pleasing.Although on the downside its not as smooth as some of the other styles, it takes a lot longer to do and its very hard to create characters and will also be hard to produce lots of backgrounds and props in this style. It still has a chance but I'm not sure its personally my first choice for animation style for my FMP.
- 19. Animation Styles 2) I decided to experiment with this style in an animation because I think it looks really good and stylized although I've only ever used it whilst drawing still images and not doing animation with it. I think out of all of the animations I did this one turned out the worst. It is jumpy and the line work isn't very clean and nice to look at. I can also tell just from making this that animating a whole scene like this would take ages to complete and the results wouldn't’t even look that good. Some of the strengths of this style is that it would probably work well in as a background or static object but I just don’t think it fits into animation too well.
- 20. Animation Styles ¾) I think both of these animation styles both look good and work very well.The style has been inspired by a series ofYouTube videos on a channel called “Kurzgesagt - InA Nutshell” . I think this style worst really well and looks good, but doesn’t take ages to create characters, backgrounds and objects etc. another reason I think this style would work is because its already quite well recognized as a style which goes with educational videos. Meaning it will be seen as educational quite easily. Some of the strengths of this style are that its easy to create movable objects using different layers. It is also quite an overall quick process, quicker than Photoshop animation and the end result is a lot smoother and just turns out better overall. For these animations I joined some limbs together and then used the rotation tool to add movements to bring the characters to life. I made these characters out of shapes from Illustrator and added the moving segments onto different layers.
- 21. Animation Style 5) For this animation I downloaded some extra plug-in software for After Effects called Duik. Duik is a software that allows you to easily and quickly rig characters to make realistic movements a lot easier. Unlike the other characters I created a rig for this character. Some of the strengths of this are that its very easy to do and is a lot quicker than manually moving each segment to create a movement.The software is also free and easy to use which is a plus. Some things that need improving with this method are the way that the hands and feet move as because they are at the end point of the rig they don’t rotate with the movement of the arms or legs.To try and overcome this I will test some movement with a small white dot at the end disconnected from the hands so that will be the point of focus and the hands will be able to rotate around it as well as the arms etc. I also think that if you want to make a character movement more detailed such as smooth swaying hair and moving fat it is a lot easier, as you can control the large movements with the rigged areas and then go back in and focus on adding small details.
- 22. Animation Style 6) After attempting to create an arm where the hand automatically rotates with the movement I encountered a few difficulties.The first one was creating a specific rig that looked like an arm so that it would create an auto rig. I then tried many things such as a floating invisible dot and even a larger object like the carrot in this image. Although it just made confused the AI and it didn’t think it was part of an arm rig anymore so I had to explore other methods. I found that by using the rotate transform tool on the actual hand it doesn’t work but if done on the whole arm and hand rig it only moves the end point which in this case is the hand. This means ill still have to move the hand automatically and try my best to match it with the movement and speed of the rest of the arm.
- 23. Animation Style 7) I wanted to have some practice in making some realistic 3D Head movements. I have never done any type of animation using a 3 dimensional field meaning that I had to watch aYouTube tutorial on how to make this effect work. After the tutorial it is quite an easy and quick task to repeat and the outcome looks really good and works really well. I think the final product would look better if it has a lot more layers as it would add even more of a 3D effect. The strengths about this style are that its quick and easy to execute and looks really good. One of the downsides I suspect will be trying to apply the head to a moving character either in post in Premiere or on the model itself inAfter Effects. I am quite sure I will be using this method in my final piece as it works very well and is worth the little time it takes to create.
- 24. Animation Styles 8) I did this arm a little differently than all of the others as it was all on one layer. I started off by pinning the top middle and bottom of the arm.These were the points I wanted the arm to be able to move at. I then highlighted all 3 of the pin layers and created a arm rig. I went onto the arm rig settings and removed the stretch effect to make it more realistic. I think I prefer this result to the other ways I've been making the arms move so far. Some of the strengths of this method are the final look I think it looks really good and is my style of cartoon. It is also easier in the illustrator stage as I don’t have to create as many layers.
- 25. What have I learnt from my experiments? Overall I think that I am going to go for the art style with the single string like arms, the 3D face so movement can be acquired and double jointed legs for a more realistic movement. As I am planning on not having the character speak I wont have to make the mouth move too often so these types of head movements should be perfect. For the face I am planning on just hiding the layer and replacing it with a different face. I could also use a green face and green screen different facial animations and movements on. Overall this is the best example of what my finished animation style will look like.The head movement on this clip isn't done very well but it was just an example of the skills I've learnt over these past few experiments. I have learnt how to create a rig in After Effects and successfully create lifelike motion with these rigs. I have also learnt how to make a 3 dimensional workspace which allows me to achieve realistic head turning and facial movement mechanics. I have also learnt how to export animated pieces inAfter Effects and learn how to use Duik the totally new plug-in that I have downloaded to be able to apply rigs to the characters. If I knew how to do this in my first year FMP the product would have been up to a much greater standard.
- 26. Health and Safety Due to all of my work being done inside in a computer room or a recording studio I will be at no real risk of any breaches of health and safety. Other than equipment errors that wont cause any threat towards me or others, there is nothing else that could harm anyone involved in my project.
- 27. Covid-19 Backup Plan Added to slide onTuesday 24th March 2020
- 28. Situation Due to the outbreak of Covid-19 the Prime Minister has shut down all colleges and we are currently in isolation.The problems this causes are the fact I can not access most of my work other than these PowerPoints. For example I cant access anything that isn’t on Slide Share such as my After Effects, Illustrator, Photoshop and Premiere files. It also means I cant get all of the sources I need to create my FMP such as character models and soundtracks. Since we are not allowed to leave our homes my farther is working from home on the PC so this also means my computer usage times are cut down significantly than if I were still at college or her were still at work. It also means I cannot find a voice actor to do the narration for my FMP.
- 29. Solutions Since I can access the PowerPoints I will be able to complete all of the planning for my project. It also means I will be able to submit at least some work. SinceAdobe is free for 3 months to students I may be able to download some of the programmes I need to make the final product. I will have to make without some due to the space free on the drive I'm using and how much space my Farther needs for his work etc. Although I have lost all of the files I have created at college I will still have access to reference images of the characters and I have saved the songs I mixed onYouTube so I will just have to copy and try and re-create them. As for the fact I cannot leave the house, this does not effect me too much apart from the time I can use the computer. I will try to use it on a night time when my farther has finished using it for work and I will also have access on weekends. I will use one of my family members to do my narration or I will do it myself if needed.