CS4803b

Assignment 1

Part 1 - Modifying Motion Capture

Most of the confusion subsided once it became apparent how the action window related to selected objects such as joints. To make the alien drum beating somewhat consistent, I made a point to have the alien strike the drum every 30 or so frames. This way it could keep a beat; once a second. By selecting the joints at the shoulders and elbows (and in a few instances the hands also) I could modify when his hands would hit the drum and when they would just keep a beat and miss. I did make a point to minimize the number of motions I modified, keeping as much of the captured data as possible. It seemed to defeat the purpose of motion capture if one were to modify it too much. I felt it would be best to just "clean it up".

I added an additional drum before modifying anything in the action window. I also wanted to be original, so I gave the drums new textures. While I was at it, I figured the alien could use red eyes. It seemed fitting for the timpani like drums and the dark scene I had in mind. Then I adjusted the motion capture data for his right arm (striking the drum on the left). The after that was complete, I started to adjust the motions of his left arm, but quickly realized that the motions would look unnatural for what I had in mind. A heavy beat once a second was almost faster than I would have liked for the first drum and, so as a result, I decided not to have him hit the second drum for this piece.

After completing the motion capture adjustment and rendering the piece, it seemed to lack something. The silence was too disquieting. Since my alien hits their drum once a second, it was pretty easy to write a short MIDI file with a timpani drum pounding every second. I threw in a short melody on top of that, so it wouldn't sound too boring. I did make the drum louder than the melody, since that's what I want to focus on. Of course, it's hard to tell that any sort of melody exists since the clip is only 5 seconds long. I used some shareware MIDI program for Windows to create the sounds, then converted MIDI to WAV format using a Sound Blaster utility. I then used mediaconvert to change the WAV to AIFF. Once in AIFF, the I was able to use soundeditor to adjust the sound waves to synchronize with the exact frame/time of the animations. Once the AIFF file was complete, I used it as the audio input for mediaconvert.

Part 2 - Key framing

The key framing assignment started out seeming more intuitive than the first part, but still managed to cause some grief. The part that really threw me off was the concept that each joint, handle, and object is key framed separately. My original understanding of the key framing concept involved modifying numerous joints, handles, and objects for a particular frame, then "setting that frame". It took me several painful hours to realize that to set a key frame, a particular item had to be selected. I eventually learned that each selectable item could then have a key frame set for it at any given time for numerous properties.
fall

Everything made sense when I learned these two things. Items could have been adjusted at a some time during a frame (denoted by the time slider), but are not affected if they are not selected at the time the key frame is set. Selected items must have at least two key frames set if you want them to move (key frames are not automatically set at frame 0!).

Among the key framing tools, I found a few hot keys particularly useful. They were ALT-k (set key frame), CTRL-n (select nothing), and CTRL-z (undo). The time slider was also particularly useful for cutting out key frames I didn't want, and simply rewinding one frame undid anything I changed in the current frame but had not already set.

I tried a lot of different motions when I began key framing. I tried making the alien fly or pretend to be the Karate Kid with the swan kick (or whatever it's called). Most of that time used learning Alias. When I finally felt like I understood the key framing, I made my alien transition from a walk to a run. This was too unexciting, so I added an object for the alien to trip over. I had a log or a rock in mind.

It was at that time that I suddenly realized the scenery was much too dull. I added a few primitives, which I deformed to give the appearance of rocks. I also added a ground that seemed more appropriate for this setting. I also added two more light to illuminate the alien as he moved across this scene.

Once the scene was completed, I realized that my alien moves such as great distance, it's hard to keep him at a good camera angle. I decided that to keep in at the center of attention, I would autofly the camera, following his progress across the scene. I created a curve for the camera to follow, and a second curve along the path walked by the alien. The camera moves along the first curve, focusing on the second curve. By doing this, the alien always remains the focus of the animation.

Again, I felt that the silence detracted from the animation, so I used my MIDI software to create sounds for the animation. Wood blocks are used for the sound of his food steps with a different pitch for each foot. After all the format conversions, I again used soundeditor to synchronize the footsteps with the sounds. I also synchronized the crash. For the crash, I used a metallic sound, and then used the sounds of crystals, as the alien lay sprawled with a dizzy head on the ground.

After everything was rendered and all the some was completed, it seemed like one hundred frames was just too short. There wasn't enough time to enjoy the aliens fall over the rocks, so I added fifty more frames. The last fifty frames emphasize the fall and how our alien is now hurting. I zoom in at this point to focus in on the alien as its head slumps to the ground. If I could have, I would have given him some facial motion too.

What I'm learning about all of these animation is that they require lots of time. Just when you think you got it, you think of something else to add, adjust, or fix. This is from the experience of creating five second long animations. I suspect that this sort of fixing and improving could just go on for ever. I began to render a few important frames, like every 20 frames or so, just to test out the animation before I render all 100+. This way I can catch any major errors before I tie up a computer for several hours. It's too bad the rendering takes as long as it does.

If I had the time, I would adjust the lights in this key framing. The scene ended up turning out darker than I would have liked. I would also work on the scenery. While I wanted to keep props at a minimum, I think it's somewhat confusing, since it's hard to tell exactly what the objects are. In any case, I think it turned out pretty good. Time to move on.