3RD YEAR IS OVER!

these past few weeks have been one hellish crunch, i am looking so forward to sitting on my arse and playing games for the next few months 🙂

but first, imma gonna post my video from advanced animation, we were told specifically to focus on lip synching and facial animation so in my mind, that equates to “terrified limbless robot” enjoy!

it`s only now looking back on it that the intro kind of reminds me of the `lost` opening. whoops. at least HOOKED is a semi cool name for it 😀

and because this would be a thin post otherwise, i`m going to bulk it up with some results from semester 1

advanced visualization

The sketchbook demonstrates extensive character design and narrative development with consideration for the brief.  The character design also details technical consideration in its development.  The storyboard communicates key poses and character emotion well which forms an excellent basis for planning a 3D character animation.  The character backstory links the design and premise of the story together and details the personality of the character clearly.  The character model and rig demonstrate a solid understanding of set-up of a 3D character for animation.  The rig could be developed in a number of ways: the pivot of ctrl_wrist is offset from the wrist which can cause control issues as the characters wrist rotates and translates when only a rotate keyframe is set.  To alleviate this, the pivot could be snapped to the wrist joint to allow the rotation of ctrl_wrist to only modify the hands rotation.  This issue is also evident in the shoulder controllers.  The topology of the foot could also be developed to allow the toe to move without affecting the heel and calf.  For guidance on this, please see the topology lecture notes which are available on portal. The animation demonstrates a grasp of 3D character animation techniques.  The animation could be developed through further consideration of the hand positioning to suit the orientation of the characters elbows.  Ensure that the hands are affected by the movements of the rest of the body to create a sense of each limb being connected.  The camera animation could also be minimised to focus on the movements of the character.  Cameras should only move when motivated to do so by the character or the story.  The critical essay meticulously details each step of the technical process however there is little evidence of technical issues or problem solving.  The essay discusses the animation process and planning behind the character’s actions well.

B16

in all honesty, i`m pleasantly shocked i got such a good grade for that module. the 3D piece i submitted was of faaaar less quality then the one shown on this post. leaving me with optimistic hopes for my advanced animation grade

screenwriting

Treatment: I take your point that you don’t want to ‘jam pack all the mythos into one small script’ but think of the treatment as a selling document – you can allude to the fact that it’s part of a bigger thing but don’t downplay it – it’s what happens in the story that is important and as such you have to sell it to us.

Storyboard: Works ok – there’s an indication of the look of the piece and how it should cut together.

Review: I think you’ve highlighted most of the issues in the script that perhaps don’t work as well as they could – by its very nature it’s almost like a chunk of gameplay. Without the broader context of the characters back story/quest it can be hard to elicit any real emotional response from the audience, but as mentioned above it works fine as an action sequence which would perhaps draw an audience in to wanting to know more about the broader story.

C 14

i worked quite hard on this module, but as the grade shows i`m not quite cut out for script writing it seems. but at least what i learned from this module can be put to practice for pretty much anything that has a story.

ALSO!

MORE THINGS!

critereon (the masterminds behind the burnout series, and the makers of an awesome hoverboard game on the Ps2 called Airblade) came to abertay to give us a lecture about their company and that they are looking for employees. I did`nt apply as it was mainly designer and programmer  openings (turns out they outsource a lot of their art which was quite interesting)  however! they did give out free swag at the end,  free copies of need for speed:hot pursuit and shirts based off the fictitious police from the game

stylin and profiling

Denki also had a lecture which was extremely interesting “10 things i wish someone had told me,before i started my own games company” now,i`m not a gdpm student so i have no involvement with the business or management side of games, but it was a thoroughly interesting lecture. it was informative and terrifying in equal measure. learned of the many, many pitfalls that can occur.

going to end this blog on a tragic note.

the beloved `direct hit` has been binned, simply nowhere to put a cardboard beast of it`s size in my tiny student flat =(

goodbye for now! I will post again when i`ve made my video playthrough of the Disney project and have some more grades to brag about!