If there are any questions, students are encouraged to or call the instructor for further clarification.

Transcription

1 Course Outline 3D Maya Animation/2015 animcareerpro.com Course Description: 3D Maya Animation incorporates four sections Basics, Body Mechanics, Acting and Advanced Dialogue. Basic to advanced software functions, Graph Editor, production workflow and animation principles are taught. The outcome of this program is to allow the student to realize a professional level of animation quality and refine at least 2 or 3 clips of animated character acting, and/or body mechanics to incorporate into a portfolio or demo reel. The demo reel is used to acquire employment as an animator, or for professionals to upgrade their skills. Video Classes/Hours: Class demonstration: Classes/Projects: Estimated Completion Time: Approx. 11 hours 18 Classes, 17 Projects 8-10 months if training full time. Feedback and Critiques/Mentoring: Students submit a playblast of their work. Animated videos are reviewed by the instructor once they are handed in via DropBox. Students may submit revised work as many times per week as needed for feedback. All students receive a return video via DropBox created by their instructor, this video is a review of the students animation. Verbal and visual feedback is given as students are shown where to make improvements. If there are any questions, students are encouraged to or call the instructor for further clarification. Required Tools: Autodesk Maya, student version (free to download and install on Autodesk site)

2 3D Flash Animation/2015 Essential Employability Skills (EES) 1. Communication: Visually communicate in a form that fulfills the purpose of the animated piece and effectively conveys it s purpose in a clear and entertaining way. 2. Communication: Respond to visual and written and/or spoken messages (feedback and critiques) in a manner that addresses the needs of the project. 3. Critical Thinking: Apply a systematic approach to problem solving. Anticipate and identify potential future issues. 4. Information Management: Analyze, evaluate and apply relevant information from a variety of sources. 5. Interpersonal Skills: Showing respect for others subjectivity and diverse opinions. Give and receive criticism graciously. 6. Personal: Manage the use of time and other resources to complete projects. Course Learning Outcomes (CLO) Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: 1. Use the tools in Maya most commonly used for character animation. 2. Have a strong understanding of working in a three dimensional virtual space. 3. Block rough animation with posing and timing and then refine animation in the Graph Editor. 4. Incorporate and combine animation principles with a 3D character rig to the standard of a studio production. 5. Create appealing poses and acting choices for high end character animation.

3 6. Convey the appropriate mood or feeling through timing and posing. 7. Utilize expressive facial controls to show mood of the character with facial animation. 8. How to analyze and break down reference material for use in character animation. 9. Use a phonetic chart to plan mouth positions for lip-sync. How to properly time lipsync. 10. Plan a animation sequence using a storyboard. 11. Select appropriate camera angles and compositions. Assessment/Classes and Projects: When your instructor feels your work is ready for the next level you will be given a pass to move onto the next class. Grading is not part of our programs, however if you would like to receive grades for your projects they can be generated upon request without any additional expectation from the student. Basics (6 classes) ANM 3D01 Maya Basics 1 Intro to Maya Students will become familiar with the Maya interface and tools most commonly used for character animation. Navigating the 3D space with Orbiting/Panning/Zooming and hotkeys are discussed and demonstrated in detail. Using the channel box to Translate/Rotate and Scale objects in all 3 dimensions. No project hand in for this class.

4 ANM 3D02 Maya Basics 2 Intro to the Graph Editor In this class students begin setting keys in the timeline and refine the animation curves in the Graph Editor. Focusing on one channel at a time to start we animate some basic exercises, and move on to a little more advanced movements and then cycle the action. Workflow techniques are introduced. For this class, submit the Maya file (.ma) of the two exercises as demonstrated in class. We will be looking at your animation curves. ANM 3D03 Maya Basics 3 Timing and Workflow Techniques Continuing with more advanced workflow techniques, we ll animate a ball bouncing on the spot to practice your first three animation principles, Timing and Stretch And Squash, and Ease In/Out. Using these principles properly will give the ball a feeling of weight. And we ll make the comparison to a ball bouncing without animation principles. Create character sets and shelf buttons. Submit two playblasts. One ball bounce without principles and one bouncing with the three animation principles as demonstrated in class. Timing, Stretch and Squash, Ease In/Ease Out. ANM 3D04 Maya Basics 4 Timing and Camera This is the first class where students animate the camera. In this class students animate a ball bouncing across stage and settle to a stop. A new animation principle is taught; Path of Action. We will then animate the camera to pan with the bounce and then zoon in on the ball once it stops. Continuing with workflow techniques taught in previous classes. Animate the ball bouncing across the stage, pan with the ball and zoom in on the ball once it stops as demonstrated in class.

5 ANM 3D05 Maya Basics 5 Secondary Action This class focuses on the very important animation principle - Secondary Action. We start with a tail wagging and then use the Fork-In-Ripe Avocado rig bouncing across stage using the same principles as last class with the ball. Finally, students animate soft secondary action with it s leaf and then rigid secondary with the fork. We begin to really implement production workflow as we block out the basic timing and posing and then refine. This is a two part project. Students submit two Playblasts. The first part is a tail wagging, second part is the Fork-In-Ripe Avocado rig as demonstrated in class. ANM 3D06 Maya Basics 6 Basic Mechanics This is the last Basics class, students will get an introduction to basic body mechanics to prepare for the next section. We will be doing some animation with just an arm. Students are using the principles used in previous classes and are introduced to new animation principles such as Drag and Overshoot. Workflow techniques continuously being practiced. Use the mannequin arm to rise through and arcing movement, ease in/out of anticipation and a quick point with overshoot and settle. Body Mechanics (5 classes) ANM 3D07 Maya Body Mechanics 1 Walk Jump and Cycle In this first body mechanics class students will use the lower body of the mannequin to animate a jump cycle focusing on weight and impact, and then animate a walk cycle to get a first taste of locomotion with a two legged character. Cycling animation is covered along with using multiple animation principles in concert with each other to create the illusion of convincing physics. Posing reference is provided. Another two part project, students can submit two Playblasts. One file with a jump cycle and one with a walk cycle as demonstrated in class. Keep your Maya file with the walk cycle for the next class.

6 ANM 3D08 Maya Body Mechanics 2 Walk Leap and Settle Using the walk cycle from the last class students will turn on the upper body and complete the walk. We then animate the mannequin walking across a stage and leaping off the edge. The focus is animating a complete walk cycle, anticipation, arcs, easing in/out stretching and squashing the pose and impact to the ground to create a feeling of weight with a full character. Posing reference is provided. Animate the mannequin rig walking to the edge of stage and leaping off the edge/impacting the ground and settling up as demonstrated in class. Make sure the feet don t slip during the walk. ANM 3D09 Maya Body Mechanics 3 Run! Continuing with locomotion and cycling we ll animate a run. Students animate the mannequin running across stage, keeping in mind workflow techniques and animation principles. Posing reference is provided. Animate the mannequin running on the spot for two cycles (or two seconds 48 frames). Then move across stage without the feet slipping. ANM 3D10 Maya Body Mechanics 4 Pushing Weight Students will animate the mannequin pushing a large block off the stage. Students also learn how to apply constraints. This class focuses creating the illusion that other objects are heavy, and are affected by gravity. Showing how the character interacts with a heavy object. Also, students will become more adept at giving a convincing performance and conveying an idea to a general audience. As demonstrated in class, have the mannequin push the block off the stage. Character taking multiple steps is not necessary. Can just have him take one step to push it off. Most important is the struggle to move the object and the poses and timing you choose to convey this convincingly.

7 ANM 3D11 Maya Body Mechanics 5 Lifting Weight and Balance Similarly to body mechanics 4, the focus on this class is to convey how the mannequin reacts to a heavy object. But this time show how the weight affects the body as it s lifting and when it s bearing down, similarly to a heavy character. Discussions and demonstrations on balance. As demonstrated in class, animate the mannequin lifting the cube. Have him rest it back on his chest and then anticipate and throw it away. Acting (5 Classes) ANM 3D12 Maya Acting 1 Mood Posture and Posing Students will practice mood and posture posing with images already in the Maya file. The meaning and importance of C curves and S curves is demonstrated. The goal of this lesson is to help students realize the importance of the poses they choose while animating, which is a big part of acting choices. Unlike live actors, animators have the opportunity to take time to think about and choose the poses their characters move through. As demonstrated in class go through the poses provided in the project and set all the poses as the references appear on the timeline. ANM 3D13 Maya Acting 2 Pantomime Acting and Silhouetted Poses Another crucial animation principle, silhouettes and staging. This principle focuses on making your work unmistakably clear to the viewer so that there is no question as to what is happening in the scene. Discussion on negative and positive space. Animate the project as demonstrated in class. Students don t have to use the options provided, go ahead and be creative! Try something different. But remember, it must be clear to other people viewing your work what the mannequin is doing in the scene.

8 ANM 3D14 Maya Acting 3 Facial Animation Students will use the ACP Trainer (male or female version) and learn the best way to approach facial animation. We discuss and demonstrate the dynamics of the face. Animate the head turns first, change in eye direction, add blinks and facial expression changes as demonstrated in class. ANM 3D15 Maya Acting 4 Lipsync Dialogue and Accents The main focus in this class is how to properly time lip-sync and pose the mouth shapes with a phonetic mouth chart. Students start learn how to properly time movements of a character with the dialogue. Animate the lip-sync first, then the head movements for the dialogue as demonstrated in class. Facial expressions, eye direction/blinks are not mandatory here. Keep this file for next class. Students may use their own audio (and character rig if they have one). Audio should be 5 7 seconds long. Keep this file for next class. ANM 3D16 Maya Acting 5 Lipsync Dialogue and Gestures Getting into more sophisticated workflow techniques, timing and posing with a full character in a medium shot. Students will use a storyboard to first plan their poses and general timing and learn how to approach full on character animation with lip-sync, upper body animation, and facial animation. Blocking and refining animation. This will likely be one of your demo reel pieces. Use the file from last class with the lipsync already done. Animate the character in a medium shot (waist up). Don t forget the order in which we animate as demonstrated in class. Students must submit the blocking first (with lip-sync and body poses) for feedback before moving onto facial animation. Students may use their own audio (and character rig if they have one).

9 Advanced Dialogue (2 Classes) ANM 3D17 Maya Advanced Dialogue 1 Monologue Sequence This will be one of your demo reel pieces. In this monologue shot, students will animate an entire acting piece from beginning to end and get exposure to the entire process. Storyboarding and planning, the order in which we approach animation, blocking and refining. Things to avoid and areas to focus on. All animation principles are being used, we re putting everything together now. Students can use the character rig and audio provided or may use their own audio (and character rig if they have one). Audio should be 8 10 seconds in length. ANM 3D18 Maya Advanced Dialogue 2 Two Character Sequence This class runs through two characters acting and reacting to one another in a pre-blocked shot. The instructor explains character motivation, more mechanics, movement theory and the thought process behind character acting. This will be one of your demo reel pieces. Students can use the character rig and audio provided or may use their own audio (and character rig if they have one). Audio can be up to 15 seconds, no shorter than 6 seconds.