Month: November 2023

Week_08_002: The difference between IK and FK in 3D animation production and the usage scenarios

Inverse Kinematics (IK)

Inverse Kinematics (IK) refers to the automatic calculation and adjustment of the position and Angle of intermediate nodes (such as shoulders or knees) by moving or rotating the end nodes of a model (such as the wrist or sole of the foot).

Forward Kinematics (FK)

Forward Kinematics (FK) affects the position and Angle of the child nodes by manually setting the position and Angle of each joint of the mode.l

The use case of IK and FK depends on the purpose and effect of the animation. In general, IK is suitable for simulating the interaction of the model with the environment, such as walking, running, climbing ladders, etc., because these actions require the end nodes of the model to remain in a fixed position.

FK is suitable for simulating the free movement of the model, such as shaking the head, waving, dancing, etc., because these movements require more autonomy and flexibility in the model’s joints.

The switching of IK and FK can be done in the frame with the greatest change in action, or within a frame.

The totally modified version of the Walk cycle.

Week_08: Explore the tentative data of the essay

Topic title: How humor strategies enhance the aesthetic value and expressive power of animated films/ The use and analysis of humor strategies in animated films/ The humor strategies of animated films: Creativity, intelligence and criticality

Short paragraph: Animated films use humor strategies to make us laugh and enjoy their stories. These strategies are not random or accidental, but rather follow some types and rules that depend on the language, visuals, situations, characters and other elements of the films. Humor strategies can do more than just entertain us, they can also help us to pay attention, relax, understand and appreciate the films better. They are a form of artistic expression that shows the creativity and intelligence of the filmmakers, as well as the emotions and wisdom of the viewers. They deserve our further study and exploration. However, humor strategies are not flawless, they also have some drawbacks and limitations that we need to be aware of and critical of when we use and evaluate them.

Keywords: humor strategies

animated films

types and rules

effects and functions

creativity and intelligence

drawbacks and limitations

Key literature: González, R.C.L. (2017) Humorous elements and translation in animated feature films: DreamWorks (2001-2012). MonTI. Monografías de Traducción e Interpretación, 9, pp. 279-305.

Dehbashi Sharif, F. and Mirafzali, F. (2019) Study of different types of humor and their dubbing in “Zootopia” animation regarding Martinez-Sierra model. Quarterly Scientific Journal of Audio-Visual Media, 13(29), pp. 209-225.

Ezell, S.K. (2016) Humor and satire on contemporary television: Animation and the American joke. London: Routledge.

Week_08_001: Post Process Volume Uses and modifies existing scenarios

Post-processing volume is a special volume that can be adjusted and optimized for rendering effects in a scene. The post-processing volume has an Ambient Cube map option, which inserts an ambient map to generate ambient light. The post-processing volume can also adjust the color and intensity of the ambient light. So, I chose to add Post Process Volume to my scene to make the rendered scene blurrier and to make the light softer.

The use of skylight in the whole scene is not so good, but it still follows the method in the class for debugging and tries to highlight the difference between the foreground and the rear scene.

Week_07_002: Lighting Settings in the UE engine and simple glass material ball blueprint sharing

Light Shafts can be generated by directional lights to simulate the real-world effect of crepuscular rays, or atmospheric shadowing of atmospheric in-scattering. These rays add depth and realism to any scene.

The bloom method captures the scene’s color (including translucency and fog in-scattering) right around the light source in world space, and blurs it radially away from the light. This method does not really emulate anything that happens in the real world, but it is very controllable (not limited by density of fog) and looks impressive. The bloom method works best when there is an interesting bright area around the sun disk, like brightly lit clouds. This is because a bright sun disk will cause some aliasing since it is so small, and the blur is an image space operation.

Simple glass material ball creation:

Week _07: Breakdown the plot and characters of the animated film Coraline & the Secret Door

The story arc:

  • Ordinary world: Coraline is a young girl who moves with her parents to a new house in the countryside. She is bored and unhappy with her life, as her parents are busy and neglectful, and the house is old and creepy.
  • Call to adventure: Coraline discovers a small door in the living room, which leads to a parallel world that is similar to her own, but better. There, she meets her Other Mother and Other Father, who are kind and attentive, and who offer her everything she ever wanted.
  • Refusal of the call: Coraline is tempted by the parallel world, but she also notices some strange and sinister things, such as the fact that everyone there has buttons for eyes. She decides to go back to her real world, but promises to visit again.
  • Meeting with the mentor: Coraline meets a black cat, who can talk in the parallel world, and who warns her about the dangers of the Other Mother. He tells her that the Other Mother is a witch who lures children into her world and steals their souls. He also tells her that she is not the first victim, and that there are three other children who are trapped in the parallel world.
  • Crossing the threshold: Coraline returns to the parallel world, hoping to rescue the other children. She finds out that the Other Mother has kidnapped her real parents and locked them behind a mirror. She also learns that the Other Mother wants her to stay in the parallel world forever, and that she has to sew buttons on her eyes to do so.
  • Tests, allies, enemies: Coraline refuses to sew buttons on her eyes, and challenges the Other Mother to a game. She bets that if she can find her real parents and the souls of the other children, she and they can go free. If she fails, she will stay in the parallel world and sew buttons on her eyes. The Other Mother agrees, and gives her a limited time to complete the task. Coraline faces many obstacles and dangers along the way, such as the Other Father, who is turned into a monstrous puppet; the Other Spink and Forcible, who are turned into giant bats; and the Other Bobinsky, who is turned into a huge rat. She also meets some allies, such as the cat, who helps her to see through the illusions of the parallel world; and the ghost children, who guide her to their souls, which are hidden in the form of eyes.
  • Approach to the inmost cave: Coraline manages to find the souls of the other children, and returns to the living room, where the Other Mother is waiting for her. She also finds her real parents, who are trapped in a snow globe. She demands that the Other Mother let them go, but the Other Mother reveals that she lied about the game, and that she will never let her go. She transforms into a grotesque spider-like creature, and tries to capture Coraline.
  • Ordeal: Coraline runs away from the Other Mother, and tries to escape through the small door. However, the door is locked, and the key is in the Other Mother’s hand. Coraline tricks the Other Mother into throwing the key at her, and catches it with the help of the cat. She opens the door, and pushes the snow globe through it. She also throws the cat at the Other Mother, who is distracted by him. She then slams the door shut, and locks it with the key.
  • Reward: Coraline returns to her real world, and finds her parents safe and sound. They have no memory of being kidnapped, but they are more loving and attentive to Coraline. Coraline also frees the souls of the other children, who thank her and move on to the afterlife. She also keeps the cat as a friend, who can still talk to her in her dreams.
  • The road back: Coraline decides to get rid of the key, as she fears that the Other Mother might still come after her. She plans to throw it down a well in the garden, but she is attacked by the Other Mother’s severed hand, which followed her through the door. She fights off the hand, and drops it and the key into the well. She then covers the well with a heavy lid, and seals it with cement.
  • Resurrection: Coraline celebrates her victory, and enjoys her new life. She makes friends with her neighbors, such as Wybie, a boy who gave her a doll that looks like her; Spink and Forcible, two retired actresses who live downstairs; and Bobinsky, a circus performer who lives upstairs. She also reconciles with her parents, who are more involved in her life. She realizes that she has everything she ever wanted in her real world, and that she doesn’t need the parallel world anymore.
  • Return with the elixir: Coraline returns to her house, and finds a surprise party waiting for her. Her parents and her neighbors have prepared a cake and gifts for her, and they celebrate her birthday. Coraline is happy and grateful, and she shares her story with them. She also sees the cat outside, who winks at her and disappears. She smiles and closes the door, ending the film.

Characters: The main characters of the film are:

  • Coraline: The protagonist and the hero of the story. She is a young girl who moves to a new house with her parents. She is bored and unhappy with her life, and she discovers a parallel world that offers her everything she ever wanted. She realizes that the parallel world is a trap, and she escapes from it. She also rescues her parents and the souls of the other children. She learns to appreciate her real world and her real family and friends.
  • The Other Mother: The antagonist and the villain of the story. She is a witch who creates a parallel world that lures children into her trap. She pretends to be a kind and loving mother, but she is actually cruel and selfish. She wants to steal the children’s souls and sew buttons on their eyes. She tries to keep Coraline in her world, and she transforms into a monstrous spider-like creature. She is defeated by Coraline and locked in her world.
  • The cat: The deuteragonist and the mentor of the story. He is a black cat who can talk in the parallel world, and who warns Coraline about the Other Mother. He helps Coraline to see through the illusions of the parallel world, and to escape from the Other Mother. He also becomes Coraline’s friend, and he can still talk to her in her dreams.
  • The other characters: The supporting characters and the allies or enemies of Coraline. They are the inhabitants of the real and the parallel world, who have different roles and personalities. They include Coraline’s parents, who are busy and neglectful in the real world, but kind and attentive in the parallel world; Wybie, a boy who gives Coraline a doll that looks like her, and who helps her to fight the Other Mother’s hand; Spink and Forcible, two retired actresses who live downstairs, and who are friendly and eccentric in the real world, but glamorous and vain in the parallel world; Bobinsky, a circus performer who lives upstairs, and who is weird and funny in the real world, but impressive and talented in the parallel world; and the ghost children, who are the previous victims of the Other Mother, and who guide Coraline to their souls.

Week_07_001: The production harvest of walking animation

Polishing walk cycle

  • Set keyframes: Keyframes are the main frames that show the timing and direction of the motion. For a walk cycle, you need four keyframes: contact, when one foot touches the ground; down, when the body is at its lowest; pass, when the feet cross; and up, when the body is at its highest. These keyframes should be spaced evenly on the timeline to make a loop.
  • Adjust in-betweens: In-betweens are the frames between the keyframes that add detail and smoothness to the motion. You can change the number and position of the in-betweens depending on the style and speed of the animation. More in-betweens make the motion smoother, but less dynamic. You can use the software’s interpolation function or adjust each joint manually to create the in-betweens.
  • Add detail and variation: To make the walk cycle more lively and personal, you can add some details and variations to the animation, such as rotating the head and torso, swinging the arms and fingers, changing the expression and eyes, and adjusting the stride and speed. You can base these details and variations on the character’s personality and mood, or copy them from a real video reference.

Week_06_002: The decomposition of character actions and how to make character actions more animated

  1. About how to confirm the animation key frame:
  • The first step to create a 3D animation is to define the goal and the content of the animation and decide how the character or object will move and change.
  • The second step is to mark the key frames on the timeline, which capture the position, rotation, scale and other attributes of the character or object at different moments.
  • The third step is to adjust the spacing and the interpolation between the key frames, which control the timing and the smoothness of the animation.
  • The ultimate step is to preview and edit the animation, check if the key frames are reasonable and accurate, and optimize the animation quality and performance.

2. To make the actions of 3D animation characters more animated, it is necessary to pay attention to the following aspects:

  • To make your animation smoother and more diverse, you need to follow the basic principles of animation, such as easing in and out, follow through, overlap, drag, squash and stretch, and so on.
  • To make your character more appealing and expressive, you need to give them the right facial expressions, body language and timing, based on their personality, emotions and goals.
  • To make your animation more suitable for the scene and the story, you need to adjust the scale, intensity and speed of your character’s movements, depending on the camera angle, framing and mood.
  • To make your animation more fun and livelier, you need to exaggerate and distort your character’s movements, as long as they don’t break the rules of physics and logic.

Week_06_001: UE model rigging

It was last week’s class, but technically it’s this week’s class, so it’s here.

  • Using the UE Mannequin: The UE Mannequin is a standard humanoid skeleton and rig that comes with UE. You can use it as a reference or a template for rigging your own models. You can also import models from external sources, such as Mixamo or Blender, and retarget them to the UE Mannequin skeleton. 
  • Using Control Rig: Control Rig is a feature in UE that allows you to create custom rigs and controls for your models using a node-based graph editor. You can use Control Rig to create simple or complex rigs, such as full-body IK, spline rigging, pose caching, and more.
  • Using UModeler: UModeler is a plugin for UE that enables you to model, rig, and animate 3D objects directly in UE. You can use UModeler to create low-poly or high-poly models, and rig them with bones, joints, and constraints. 

Week_06: The relationship between film language and animated film

How does film language convey the meaning and value of animated films in terms of their themes and viewpoints？

Animated film is a special form of film, it is not limited by reality, it can create a variety of imaginary scenes and characters, but also can learn from and imitate the real film language, to enhance the sense of reality and expression of animation. Animated films have rich meaning and value. They can reflect and criticize social reality, show and inherit cultural traditions, and express and inspire life philosophy.

Film language conveys the meaning and value of animated films through various techniques and techniques, among which symbolism, metaphor and contrast are the most common and effective ones. A symbol is the use of a concrete object or image to represent another abstract concept or emotion, 0 metaphor refers to the use of one thing or image to imply the characteristics or relationships of another thing or image and so on.

How is the significance and value of American culture to contemporary animated films reflected in the themes and perspectives of animated films

American animation has a significant impact on national culture all over the world, and the output of its culture and value can be a good entry point for this paper. How can cross-cultural communication values be reflected in the language of animated films through the analysis of American cartoons

Week_05_002: UE realistic scene construction

With the models and terrain creation tools in the UE model library, you have everything you need to make a scene quickly. The problem with character controller binding that we had last week is solved now, and you can achieve better animations.

I wanted the art to be weathered and discarded in the unknown canyon, but the actual effect was not so good…… But in addition to the functionality of UE itself, there are other plugins that work well throughout the process.