Test animation

I have done a basic test for copying the animation from one character to another. I used a cube and a sphere, using the trax editor and the character mapper. The movement is working out fine but the scale isn't working. I don't need the scale to work as my character doesn't change size but I don't know whether this may cause problems when I try it on the main animation because of all of the movement and keying.

Duplicating the animation

The main problem I have found about doing this project is that I have no knowledge of duplicating animation from one character to another. I have been researching on the internet and haven't found anything of use. I been into university and spoken to Andrew and whilst he doesn't have a solution to the problem it was useful to brainstorm with someone with knowledge. It also became apparent when I was talking to him what a mess my rig is in. I think I knew this but we have found a solution to this. I'm going to copy all of the key sets from the pelvis on the circle and detach it and redraw a new one and copy the keys over. I can then group all of the elements of the rig together under one header. The problem I was having is that for some reason the circle that controls the pelvis is fixed which means when you want to move the whole character the model distorts and cannot be relocated. By following the steps above it means I can pick the whole character up and move them easily which will also help me when I come to copying the other girls.

I think I can duplicate the animation using the trax editor and the character mapper function in Maya. I think I will try this with a simple object and see if it works before I try it with my complicated model.

The best solution that we came up with if I don't manage to duplicate the girls is the use of After Effects it may mean that I have to produce a composition film, which may look better anyway. I can render out each girl in their various coloured costumes and head dresses, I need to move the stage across for each one so that they look like they are positioned accordingly in comparison to each other and then take the footage and composite it in After Effects. It works out kind of like doing a green screen where you superimpose someone.

Animation

I have set the stage and put a single dancer on it. I'm concentrating on getting her animated moves correct prior to adding the other dancers. The reason being that I am duplicating the animation for each girl, therefore if I can do a nice piece for one, it is a nice piece for all. I'm struggling to make the animation realistic at the moment she is still stiff and mechanical looking. I have been into university and I have shown Carol who has suggested the following ways of improving what I have without starting again.

Anticipation
Overshoot movements
Keep the various parts of the body animated slightly out of sync
Add more up and down movement

I have taken these on board and I've changed the moves that I have done so far. I have posted up a before and after playblast to show the differences I have made.


BEFORE


AFTER

Setting the stage

I have spent time looking for pictures of theatre stages on google images to see what I could find for ideas for the stage sets etc. I want to keep it as simple as possible so not to detract from the dancers, neutral colours but still in keeping with a realistic stage.

Here are few of the images I found:-


http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/graphics/empire_theatre_stage.jpg


http://theaterseats.htroom.com/images/TheaterStage03.jpg


http://www.theglasgowstory.com/images/TGSB00373_m.jpg


http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2007/06/15/theatrespotlight460.jpg

Ithink the last picture is more like the idea I had simple but effective. Here is a still image of my theatre set, I though I might put a cut out silhouette audience in After Effects in due course.




I have slightly changed the stage now that I have the dancer on it. The changes are more for scale and realism issues, I have expanded the space on the stage behind the curtains which the audience probably won't see but I wanted to make sure it looked real. I have also added a bit of detail around the stage so it's not so plain.