Timetable/List of things I need to research

Here is my list of things that I need to go over this week as well as find information sources for:

• The Principles of Animation
• Creating natural, fluid and expressive human motion in animation
• Look into the process of exporting animations into a game engine
• Topology and deformable models
• Facial shapes and facial rigging
• Optimized rigs
• 3D Character standards and protocols

I will hopefully have all of the research done by early Wednesday afternoon.

I'll hopefully be making a start on my final project proposal Wednesday afternoon which I will then continue to work on Thursday hopefully being able to get it handed in by either Thursday afternoon or Friday morning.

Job Research 3 & 4

Today I took a look at a few job ads as one of them was extremely short I decided to merge two ad evaluations.

Job post three

There isn't much information apart from that the company "Boulder" are looking for 3D animators to work on a new 3D series, whether this is a TV series or an online series isn't clear.

There is a short list of skills and although this isn't a job ad for anything to do with animating for video games I still think that the information is helpful.

The fact that they want experience in 3DS Max or Maya leaves myself open for a wider range of job opportunities than I thought and although I'm working on a project that involves the creation and animation of a 3D character for a video game, the skills required here allow me to perhaps look into animating for non-video game purposes in the future.

More skills:

• Strong grasp of basic animation fundamentals
• Great work ethic
• Ability to work to a schedule/quota
• Good creative Vision and to be detail orientated
• Flexible, willing to learn and self-motivated
• Good interpersonal skills

I read through the rest of these list of skills and although most of them were present in one form or another in another job ad I blogged about I didn't much notice them in the sea of requirements for video game specific requirements. I just thought I'd blog about this job ad as it made me think of animation as well as general working skills and that they need to be focused on too.

This may seem a little irrelavent but some of these skills I do plan on working on such as the ability to work to a weekly quota since I will have a weekly schedule for my final project.

Job post four

 A job ad for a freelance position as a character animator to be animating certain exaggerated fighting animations.

I'm getting to the point where the requirements are getting rather generic, with job post four they ask for previous experience, an understanding of animation principles and techniques which is one of the things I plan on looking into and blogging about this week.

Other skills include experience with iterative design and being comfortable with trashing work, I have been known to not know when to give up but hopefully if I go into working on something knowing it may be trashed, I'll still work my hardest to make it the best it can be.

Next up on my blog I'll be creating a timetable for this week based on what I think I need to look into as well as working on my proposal.



Job Post 3:

Experienced 3D Animators wanted

Boulder Media – Posted by admin – Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Job Description

Boulder are looking for 3D Animators to work on our exciting new 3D series.
The successful candidate will have all of the skills and characteristics listed below:

• Proven 3DS Max/Maya software skills, preferably on a long form animation series
• A strong grasp of the basic animation fundamentals and a great work ethic
• Must be able to work to a weekly quota
• Must have good creative vision and be detail orientated
• Must be flexible, willing to learn and self-motivated
• Must have good interpersonal skills

If you think you have the necessary skills and are interested in applying please forward your cv and cover letter to ali@bouldermedia.tv. Don’t forget to include links to your harmony specific work examples, your portfolio/reel and/or website

Job Post 4:

3D Character Animator for Steam/PS4/XONE game

Supertype – Posted by MarkParrish – Anywhere

Job Description

Supertype is looking for a freelance 3D Character Animator to craft fluid combat animations with exaggerated, visceral motions for our upcoming multiplayer fighting game, Arena Gods.
http://supertype.com/
http://arena-gods.com/
Payment will be structured per animation. Deliverables, delivery time, room for iteration, and price will be agreed upon in advance and payment will be made upon delivery of completed work. We strongly prefer using PayPal for payments, but we can make bank transfers if absolutely necessary.
We’re looking for someone we can potentially build a long term relationship with spanning multiple projects.
Supertype is a new independent game studio comprised of Mark Parrish and Rodrigo Costa. While originally founded in Beijing, China, they are currently based in New York City and Florianopolis, Brazil. Arena Gods is their first game as a new studio and development is going pretty damn good.
Responsibilities:
– Create key-frame character animations for the combat moves we design.
– Work strictly with one humanoid character.
– Adjust the timing of fast and slow attacks.
– Adjust animation transitions from other movement actions like standing, running, and rolling on the ground.
– Adjust transitions from one combat move to another, to create combo moves.
– Work remote from the team and communicate with team members in other countries in different time zones.
Requirements:
– Previous experience with combat/fighting video game animation.
– Both technical and artistic animation skills with a strong understanding of classic animation principles and techniques.
– Experience with iterative design and comfortable with trashing work.
– Experience working remote with minimum supervision.
– Strong attention to detail.
– We prefer animators working in 3DS Max.
– Bonus points for experience with Unity3D’s Animator.
– Passion for fighting games is a big plus.
– Passion for arena fighting games is a mega plus.
Please send a link of your demo reel and questions to mark@supertypegames.com, with ‘Character Animator’ in the subject line.
Contact: mark@supertypegames.com

Bibliography:

Link to Job Post 3: http://www.animatedjobs.com/jobs/experienced-3d-animators-wanted/

Link to Job Post 4: http://www.animatedjobs.com/jobs/3d-character-animator-for-steamps4xone-game/

Pipeline Research

Today I looked into the 3D Production Pipeline here are some websites explaining 3D character creation for games:

http://blog.digitaltutors.com/bringing-hero-life-indie-game-development-pipeline/
http://www.digitaltutors.com/learningpath/113-Indie-Game-Development-Pipeline

In the first link it explains the development process for a Hero character for an indie game. This pipeline explains that the development stages of the hero relate to the animation. To begin I must design what the character looks like, by sketching for finding images for reference. To make things easier I believe finding or designing a character standing in a T-pose with multiple angles such as a front view, side view and maybe a top down view.

When it comes to modeling the character I'll be using planes, to act as a canvas so I can texture them with the reference images. Making 3 faces of a square so I can begin creating my character in between them so I can simultaneously position every face of the character within the guidelines of every angle to keep the character from looking strange. e.g. having arms a lot wider from the front than the back etc..

Example of how I'll use planes to help me model my character:


Once the character has been made in a T-pose I'll make sure my model is capable of deformation. By that I mean that I need to edit the model slightly around the areas that would bend or more to make sure the model doesn't look irregular or break when it does. I'll be improving the topology of the areas around the limbs and face to make sure they can be manipulated properly.

Next I'll texture my character, the character won't have that many different colours as I have the image of a Flash-esque superhero uniform in mind which will cover most of the character's body.



 As you can see, The Flash only has about 4 colours but I won't be having white patches for eyes I want to have eyeballs that can clearly be seen looking around so as for the eye holes in the costume my character's head should look something like this:



Next up comes rigging, in the pipeline guide I've been following the character they created has disjointed limbs as in he has a head, torso, hands and feet, none of which are connected. That aside the guide explains that they used Inverse Kinematics to provide a sense of length so the arms and legs don't get pushed too far away from the model to keep the model's proportions.

Taking a closer look at kinematics on the digital tutor's website I read that Inverse kinematics makes it so a child in the character's rig's hierarchy can influence the movement of the parents. They give an example which is: by utilizing IK in your character’s arms you can position your character’s hand and the rest of the character’s arm chain will automatically be calculated. From this I gathered that if I were to move the character's hand upwards, the arm would follow. Another way to describe this is if the character had their arm straight up in the air then you were to grab the hand and drag it downward, the elbow and shoulder would bend and move downward with it.

When I read about forward kinematics I was rather confused, it works in a different way that is supposed to be more precise. If you were to lift the hand up the rest of the arm wouldn't bend to follow it, the hand would just stretch upwards deforming the arm. It's as if each joint moves independantly of each other.

From this I've decided that using inverse kinematics to keep the character's body together and while using bipeds in my second year of uni for animation I feel like I will be much more comfortable using the same sort of system.

As for animating I plan to make about three looping animations most likely being an idle animation, a walking animation and a running animation. As for other animations I'm thinking about making other animations such as a punch, a kick or a jump. I could possibly look into animations such as taking a punch or a kick but for now, before I've started planning out my timeline for completion, I'm just going to look at those five animations and think about making them as good as possible.

 I also took a look at a pdf called: "3D Production Pipeline in Game Development" written by Peter Ciszek. I scrolled to page 12 to chapter 3.2 and he has said the process for creating 3D Models for games is: concept drawing, Modeling, sculpting, texturing/UV-mapping, rigging and finally animating.

Here is what I think my pipeline will look like:

1. Idea/Finding/Creating Reference Images

2. Modelling the character using the images as guidelines as well as improving the model's topology so it can deform correctly

3. Texturing the character

4. Rigging the character

5. Animation

Bibliography:

Plane Character Creation Example: http://xx-ritsu-hime-xx.deviantart.com/art/Megaman-Zero-Zero-3D-WIP-302765236

The Flash Image: http://batmanytb.com/Flash%20II%20%28Young%20Justice%29

The torso + head Flash image: http://geekleagueofamerica.com/2013/08/12/dvdblu-ray-review-justice-league-flashpoint-paradox/

Inverse and Forward Kinematics: http://blog.digitaltutors.com/understanding-inverse-and-forward-kinematics/

 3D Production Pipeline in Game Development pdf: https://jyx.jyu.fi/dspace/bitstream/handle/123456789/40995/URN%3ANBN%3Afi%3Ajyu-201302271274.pdf

Job Research 2

Today's job post is for an animator job at Automaton.

In the short description it says that as an animator I would be responsible for creating and exporting realistic animations to bring their models to life. This would make this job something I am definitely interested in. While it doesn't exactly say what I would be animating apart from it mentioning characters, most likely human or human-like, and creatures. I am very much interested in animating these types of things.

Taking a look at what the requirements are as well as some of the optional requirements a small grin appeared on my face.

First of all, I noticed that when it comes to experience in software is asks for experience in either 3DS Max or Maya both of which I have used although I'm much more comfortable using 3DS Max that Maya.

It also says that one of the requirements is to have developed my art skills and strong portfolio as hobby/job experience or through a recently obtained degree. Thankfully I'm learning about putting together a portfolio as one of my modules so I'll be getting a better understanding of that this year.


They also ask for someone who is passionate about video games and that I would aspire to create games that meet my own expectations. Obviously I'm very passionate about video games but now that I think about it I often think to myself while playing games how things could be better in my own eyes or I get a bit annoyed if it seems like something is lazily made. I don't think you should settle for anything less than what you envisioned something to be unless it's out of your control or ruins something else that's equally important.

As one of the optional requirements is to have experience in modelling and/or rigging both things I would like to try and implement into my final project. Since this is a job for animators I imagine that knowledge of both modelling and rigging should help in the animation process.

Link:

http://www.reed.co.uk/jobs/animator/28154675?WT.mc_id=indeed

Text:

Animator

• Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
• Competitive salary
• 34 applications

• Job type: Permanent, full-time
• Date: 12 October
• Reference: 28154675

Posted by
Automaton More jobs from Automaton  

Automaton is a young games company looking to match the experience of its world-class tech team with artists who strive for AAA quality. As an animator you will be responsible for the creation and export of realistic animations that bring our models to life.
We are looking for individuals with a healthy disregard for constraints, who aren't afraid to experiment with the new and up and coming. Come and work with a high caliber, motivated team to shape the future of great gaming.
RESPONSIBILITIES

• Create, iterate and polish AAA-level animations of a multitude of different character and creature types.
• Be proactive in seeking feedback and pushing yourself creatively.
• Contribute to helping improve the workflow of the animation production pipeline.
• Give and receive constructive and creative feedback across art disciplines.
• Work within the development team to resolve technical issues with animations.
• Participate in game playthroughs reporting issues and giving feedback on your personal opinion of the direction of the project.
• Recognise areas of opportunity and help others create AAA-standard work.

REQUIREMENTS

• Education: you either developed your art skills and strong portfolio through on-the-job/hobbyist experience, or through your recently obtained degree.
• You are an expert in one or more of the following industry standard tools: 3D Studio Max, Maya, and/or MotionBuilder.
• You have a creative nature with strong problem solving skills.
• Your ability to multi-task and prioritize work appropriately demonstrates your efficiency without compromising on quality.
• You are a gamer who is passionate about video games, and aspire to create games that meet your own high expectations that you will enjoy to play.

OPTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Game industry experience preferred but not necessary, however skills and experience of delivery throughout all areas of the development cycle is a huge plus.
• Strong technical background with the ability to work in an agile environment and grasp new programs and systems quickly.
• Experience in modeling/rigging.

For more information on our vision, our aim and our background, visit the Automaton website at www.automaton.uk

Required skills & expertise:

Maya 3D Studio Max

Job Research 1

The first job I took a look at was a volunteer job which has the potential to turn into a permenant position with full salary and benefits. So it's not exactly a job and there's no promise of a job either but it is in England and does have a list of requirements which I can take note of.

The job requirements that I have some experience with are:

 Keeping the polygon counts reasonable - I've worked with polygon count restrictions for my assignments so I have experience with cleaning up models to reduce the polygon count.

Using technical software packages, such as 3DS Max, Maya and Blender - While I have never used Blender I've been using 3DS Max at Uni for over 2 years now and I've had a go at using Maya which I got the hang of but I think there is room for improvement in both pieces of software.

Building up accurate, detailed frame-by-frame visuals - I've mostly created looping animations such as walking but I've also created a kicking animation, a basketball shooting animation as well as an idle animation and while creating them I was taking into account the weight distribution and redistribution of the models frame-by-frame but there is room for improvement for me when it comes to this.

Working to production deadlines and meeting our commercial requirements - I've been working on group projects so I have a good idea what it is like to work with production deadlines.

Designing the art work and models for games - I've done both of these things while working on projects at Uni

These are a list of requirements that I have noticed that I have some experience with and understanding of, in the description it mentions that I need to have a strong understanding of the modelling and/or animation process for games. These are two things I plan on researching and learning about and applying what I've learned to my final project.

Link to job post: 

http://www.indeed.co.uk/cmp/Hydra-Studios/jobs/Realistic-Game-Modeller-Animator-f8e86da04eeee355?q=Character+Animator+Games+Animation

Job post text: 

realistic games modeller and animator
Hydra Studios - Wakefield
Volunteer

The role is for a new start-up self employed business, who specializes in Open world and RTS games. unfortunately this is only a voluntary position, but has the potential to turn into a permanent position with full salary and benefits.
The company builds realistic games with a small team which we are currently expanding. our current team is passionate about the work they do and enjoy the work type, they are all strongly motivated and can work with their own initiative, to make a career within our studio, and we are looking for like minded people who have the drive, ambition and passion to be successful.
This role would be perfect for someone who would like to gain experience to further progress. The successful candidate would need a good level of communication, be trust worthy, polite, optimistic, with a good eye for detail.
the candidate should have a strong understanding of the modelling and/or Animating process for games, they will need to posses the ability to work well in a team and have a good level of imagination. We are looking for someone who also posses good leadership ability and the desire to potential manage a broader team as the work loads increase.
experience is not required but is desirable.
If you would like to take advantage of this brilliant opportunity within hydra studios, apply now, you will gain invaluable experience, portfolio work, and essential knowledge of the game creation process.
please ensure that when applying you add your portfolio and cover letter along with your CV.
Tasks typically involve:

• Keeping the polygon counts reasonable;
• Designing the art work and models for games;
• Liaising with other staff to ensure the finished product meets expectation, this can include liaising across departments, with programmers and/or animators;
• Creating your own artwork, for your own models within the game;
• Drawing in 3D to create sketches, artwork or illustrations;
• Designing models, backgrounds, sets, characters, objects for the environment;
• Using technical software packages, such as 3DS Max, Maya and Blender;
• Building up accurate, detailed frame-by-frame visuals;
• Working to production deadlines and meeting our commercial requirements
• Liaising with programmers and modellers to develop animation from their concepts and/or animating your own custom models for the purpose of the game, while keeping the polygon count low;
• Designing the art work and models for games
• Meetings to discuss goals/ideas and deadlines
• Liaising with other staff to ensure the finished product meets expectation
• Creating storyboards that depict the script and narrative.
• Drawing in 3D to create sketches, artwork or illustrations.
• Designing models, backgrounds, sets, characters, objects and the animation environment.
• Developing the timing and pace of the movements of a character or object during the sequence of images and ensuring they follow the soundtrack and audio requirements;
• Using technical software packages, such as Flash, 3ds Max, Maya, LightWave, Softimage and Cinema 4D, Blender.
• Building up accurate, detailed frame-by-frame visuals;
• Recording dialogue and working with editors to composite the various layers of animation (backgrounds, special effects, characters and graphics) in order to produce the finished piece.
• Working to production deadlines and meeting our commercial requirements.
• Potentially leading a broader team of animators as the work load increases.

Much of the work involves pitching and being proactive in coming up with new ideas and concepts, the result should be in line with our companies prospective and goals.
**This role has thepotentialto turn into a full time permanent paid position within Hydra Studios
Job Type: Volunteer

Catchup!

While the blog has been quiet I was handing in my project proposal which was admittedly fortunately refered. Yes you read that right, after recieving feedback and then rereading my proposal I know I would be having a number of issues while trying to follow my timeline as well as the brief didn't actually clearly explain what it was I was going to be doing.

Whether the cause was lack of sleep or just lack of research I've requested my resubmission deadline to be on Friday the 4th of December, giving me just under two weeks to research properly and create a proper proposal.

I'm still very interested in character animation for games so I'll be looking into jobs of that description. I'll create a list of skill/experience requirements that come up frequently while job searching and colour code each skill based on how much they come up.

Once I've created a list of skills I'll categorize them depending on how much experience I have with them.

I'll then research each of the skills to get a better understanding of them as well as a better understanding of how long they may take to learn as well as implement into my project. I'll research pipelines of character creation for games as well as a pipeline for the animation process with my main focus being on the animation side of things.

Once I've got a reasonable timescale figured out based on my experience with each part as well as how long each part would normally take I'll draft up and refine some timescales for the project.

Rethinking my idea - again!

After seeking some guidance I've been told that if I was to make an animation on it's own that I may struggle with it. I was also told that modelling a character suitable for animation, rigging said model and then animating some demonstrations of the character's movement capabilities. I may have the time to also create a short animation for the character. It's believed to be well into my capabilities that this is possible and I'm eager to do it.

I plan on using 3DS Max for the whole project as when I was looking for jobs in character rigging quite a few such as the following require experience in 3DS Max:

http://jobs.gamasutra.com/job/3d-character-rigger-el-segundo-california-28545

http://www.totaljobs.com/JobSearch/JobDetails.aspx?JobId=63980495

The second job requires experience in turning 2D characters into 3D, which I feel is a necessary component in any model creation process. I recently blogged about a creating a reference for modelling. I drew out the front, side and top views of a goblin which I would then use to model. So I'm most likely going to either create my own, use a free to use image online or to take a free to use image and edit it to my liking.

The image I created in the recent blog post wasn't particularly great quality-wise so I'll most likely spend a lot more time on it that I did, which was only two afternoons. I think I should spend two weeks on this, the first week I should spend coming up with character designs or creating a collection online and then the second week creating a reference suitable for modelling. I'm leaning towards a superhero type theme as most of their costumes are simple in design such as the Flash's costume as shown in the image below.

I'll most likely be spending around 2 weeks over the entire project researching if I struggle with anything. Since I have next to no experience in modelling a character I'll be expected to take quite a long time on this. Along with texturing the character I expect I think I'll take up to 4 weeks. Jose Lazaro, a professional character artist, was asked how long he usually takes to create a 3D model and he said 

"Well, that depends on the character as well, but I usually spend between one and three weeks for character." 

As I'm fairly new to character modeling I expect to take longer that him.

I also looked at a forum and found this post:

http://forum.freegamedev.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3994

This post has an estimate of how long it takes to create professional assets for a game called "Blood Frontier" The times don't appear to be all that long but I have to take into account that these are created by professionals who have a lot of experience in character creation.

Also the character models most likely don't have rigged fingers and of top of that they are made from a low poly count.

Modelling and "Painting" a character apparently takes from 30-50 hours but taking into account my model will be smoother and of a higher quality on top of the fact that I have next to no experience in creating and texturing a model I think I could end up taking up to 3 weeks just modelling the character, leaving time for fixing any errors I may come across.

As for rigging the character I expect to spend around 3 weeks on this but it may take longer as I may have to edit the model to make sure the limbs bend properly as well as the face may take me a while so I may have to add on around 2 weeks for breathing room bringing it up to a total of 5 weeks for rigging. The models rigged by professionals apparently take 4-8 hours to rig but since I'm adding fingers and facial rigs I will need more time especially if I encounter any problems with the model. As for animating I plan to make some demonstration animations to show what the model can do as well as spend some time creating a short animation in any extra time I have to further demonstrate the quality of the created character. Apparently short character animations take from 1-2 hours but I should be able to manage two a week, making sure they're of a decent quality as well as leaving time to fix errors in the model/rigging I notice any problems. The short animation will most likely be the character interacting with some objects. As for the demonstration animations I think I'll be able to create two per week for 2 weeks creating 4 demonstration animations they'll be walking, running as well as a possibly punching, jumping or just an idle animation of the character standing around most likely looking rather bored.

The short animation's duration will be planned out once the character has been created, rigged and the demonstration animations have been completed. While this short animation is an optional part, if I have the spare time I will be working on this to further demonstrate the capabilities of the rigged character.

Rendering the animation as a image sequence rather than a video will save me a lot of time as I can use video editing software to create a video out of the images which I learned from the following of forum post post by "clockwork":

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-33891.html

As for what I want to be marked on, I want to be marked on the quality of the model, the rigging as well as the quality of the demonstration animations.

Image bibliography

http://batmanytb.com/Flash%20II%20(Young%20Justice)

http://www.g4g.it/download/comment.php?dlid=1865

Interview quote taken from: 

http://www.tutorialboard.net/interview-3d-character-artist-blitz-game-studios-jose-lazaro/

Rethinking my idea

At first I was seriously considering creating a model, rigging and then animating the rigged model for my final project. To be honest I wasn't confident in being able to handle it all and I think I should just animate and animate alone. It's been brought to my attention that A: an animation project could make for a good final project provided I put the work in and B: working on the three things would leave me with three not so refined skills rather than one skill that could impress employers.

So unless something comes up with huge warning lights telling me not to pursue animation I'm going to forget about modelling and rigging and push forward with animation. Thanks to my job research I know that a piece of software that's used by professionals as well as expected by employers is Autodesk's Maya.

After playing around with Maya and looking at various tutorials I created a quick 8 second animation to get a feel for the way it works. I downloaded a rigged practice model from:

http://www.animationmentor.com/

I downloaded The squirrel and stewart rigs, the squirrel being for beginners and the stewart model being a professional quality rig for use by animators of all levels. I only had a quick play with the squirrel rig but I decided to try making an animation with the stewart rig.

Using the stewart rig in Maya was strange to me, I felt a bit like my experience with a similar piece of software, 3DS Max, was both helpful but also a bit confusing as the tools in each program aren't the same or go by different names. While moving the character around I noticed there were some similarities with Source Film Maker, a free program I used to create one of my previous assignments. I started out with a rough animation and then went into each of the frames to try and make them seem a little more lifelike.

Here is my short eight second idle character animation I created using the stewart rig to get a feel for the animation controls:

"Stewart" starts by tapping his face with his finger as well as his foot on the ground, he then shifts his weight onto his other leg to tap his toes on the ground with the other foot while slightly hunching over and looking downwards. He also spreads his arms slightly to keep his balance on one foot.

When making this animation is was originally over in a couple of seconds as "Stewart" would perform all of these movements quickly one after the other. I used the graph editor and the scaling tool to change the timing of each individual body part. I got the idea to create this animation while pondering what I should have "Stewart" do when I figured there was no reason not to have him also ponder this question. I'll definately need to plan out any future animations by storyboarding as this will actually give me something to animate.

This was quite a learnable as well as enjoyable experience and I'm genuinely excited at the thought of pursuing a career in 3D animation as the process of animation is long but to me, it's extremely enjoyable even when making something as simple as this.