CS 294-07: The Art of Animation

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Assignment Assigned Due (Note Overlap!) Assignment Detail
1 Jan-31

Feb-7 (Frames)
Feb-14 (Final Video)

Flip Book Assignment
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In the flip book assignment you will get your first taste of animation by hand. In class each of you will draw on an 5 x 8 index card an image of your choice. Then you will trace your neighbors drawing on your light table.

Your job is to "morph" one image into the other by drawing the "in-betweens".

Your frames must be photographed or scanned (see the Lab Info for details) by next class (Feb. 7th), and the directors will assemble the reel by Feb 14th.

The directors are Robert (rarm@berkeley.edu) and Christian (calarcon@berkeley.edu).

2 Feb-7 Feb-28

Goal of Pose Assignment
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As an animator, you will constantly be facing a blank page where you are required to show a character emotionally dealing with a situation. You will need to pose their body, in whatever form that is, in a manner that communicates to your audience what the character is feeling, and doing, in that unique moment.

This assignment is to get you accustomed to this situation and to give you the language and tools to create and discuss appealing and entertaining poses.

Pose Assignment
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Draw 3 separate poses (and you may use props), each done on a sheet of 8.5x11" paper using pencil. Each pose must have an accompanying paragraph (10 sentences or more), created before you draw your pose, telling the story of who this character is, what led them to this situation, what the situation is and what is the goal they desire.

Writing the Paragraph of your Pose
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The more you can say here, the better. And be very specific. The more work you do at this point the easier a pose will come to you. And always try acting out the pose yourself in your own body.

This should include:
The Body
(at least 3 sentences) Describe the physical attributes the character eg. height, age, gender, etc. Describe the emotional characteristics of the character. How does these influence how they use their body?

The Mind
(at least 4 sentences) Why is the character in this situation ie. what brought them here? What are they trying to achieve in this moment? What is at stake for the character? Love, death, hunger, humilation, power, etc. the greater the stake, the more powerful the emotional impact.

The Pose
(at least 3 sentences) What is the most visually important part of the pose ie. where do you want the audience to look? Where is the center of the weight (of the character) located?

3 Feb-14 Mar-7 Story Board Assignment
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Story parameters:
Establish character sleeping and waking up, going outside and seeing something.
Students should create the thing to be revealed.
Character can be anything.
The place character where is sleeping can be anything; what character will see outside can be anything.

This a simple progression that should express a beginning, middle and an end.

Examples:

Introduction of Will Smith's character in Independence Day

Introduction to Silverado.

It can be a mouse in a shoe waking up and looking outside shoe to see a cat. or it can be a man waking up and going outside and getting the newespaper and seeing a rhino in the neighbor's yard.

The boards should be between 5 and 30 panels long.

The boards can be drawn with pencil or ink.

Boards should be around 20" x 8".

Boards do not have to be finished drawings -- rough drawings are fine.

Each frame should be 1920x803 pixels or around 9"x4".

Try to avoid stick figures as they do not express enough information.

Remember to think about the structure of the beats of the scene as a visual progression.

4 Mar-7 Mar-28

Gravity Exercise
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Animate three falling and bouncing objects 1) bouncing elastic ball 2) bowling ball 3) balloon. Use line drawings to animate this. When stretching, or deforming objects, they should remain volumetrically the same (ie. not get larger or smaller), but feel free to exagerated the deformations as you see fit.

The bouncing ball assignment is due in two weeks, on March 28th. In this case, "due" means drawn and shot and put together as an animation and uploaded to the website (so that we can view it in class). John is getting the uploading feature all set.

In preparing your animation, it is helpful to plan a path to show the ball’s action. Show squash and stretch (squask when it hits the ground and stretch when it goes up again and before it hits the ground).

Before doing the assignment, be sure to read Richard Williams: p35 to 40, 93-95, 260 to 261

Also, check out this website:
http://www.idleworm.com/how/anm/01b/bball.shtml

5 Mar-7 Mar-28

Flipbook Signature:
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For those of you who have not yet got your signature in to the directors for the flipbook, please do so as soon as you can, so that we can the final version up on the website. You should animate your signature in 18 frames or less.

6 Mar-7 Sign up!

Individual Presentation:
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We discussed the student presentations guidelines. Each student will have to give a presentation to the class.

Duration should be around 20 minutes.
There should be an A/V component showing animations and using slides.
The presentation should be uploaded to the website.

7 Mar-28 Apr-11

Walk Cycle Assignment:
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PART I. READING ASSIGNMENT

Read pages 107 to 166 in The Animator's Survival Kit book by Richard Williams

PART II. CREATE A WALK CYCLE ANIMATION LOOP

Animate the character on model-sheet walking (moonwalk) in the middle of the screen. Use the simple jointed figure to complete a walk cycle. Focus on mechanics, locomotion and weight.

Do a side view walk cycle.

Usually, one step is 8 drawings. The whole cycle is 16 drawings Test it to see if it works for you.

Things to think about:

• Edweard Muybridge: Human walks.
• Concentrate on mechanics and weight.
• Stay close to the model. Don’t come up with your own character.
• Be careful that the volumes and body masses are consistent.
• This exercise is a cycle. When you record this exercise for final, make a loop so it is easy to study. Repeat several times.

8 Mar-14 Mar-28:
pitch your idea (thumbnail sketches to visualize the story)

Apr-4:
storyboard (character design with 2 views: front and profile)

Apr-11:
layout and animation

Apr-18:
animation

Apr-25:
editing

May-2:
presentation

Final Project:
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I would like you to work up a little "pitch" for your final animation project idea,
and pitch it to me and the rest of the class on Monday March 28th.

Here some further details on the final project.

The course culminates in the development of your own animation piece.

This can be done individually or in groups of two or three students.

In the case of a group project, the duration of the piece should be at least on minute.

Other than that, remember to keep it as simple and short as possible.

The story for your final project is of your choosing; however,
I do need to approve the topic idea after you present it

Guidelines:

    * 30 seconds to 1 minute of animation.
    * Line test quality (pencil, no color)
    * Personal or group project (1 or 2 or 3 students)
    * Group projects will be one minute of animation minimum
    * 2 characters maximum
    * include title and credits
    * include soundtrack

In addition to sketches for your pitch, think about how to describe
your story in a concise, compelling manner.

Provide some description of each character
Think about what each character needs and what struggles there
will be for him/her trying to get it?

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