ABC 3, ittle bit 'o acting, ittle bit 'o review Options

[amarillospider]

!!!BOOTCAMP 3!!!!

Okay gang, time to spice it up a little! This bootcamp will introduce
a little bit of acting excercise while at the same time being a review of what we've already worked on.

Da Juice Box!!

So traditional animator's often do acting tests with a Flour Sack, and all the emotions they can squeeze out of it. The CG equivalent is the Juice Box (yeah we could make a flour sack, but I think the juice box is more suited to CG) So this little box is ALIVE! You are to make us believe that it is thinking and existing and EMOTING. Boxes
can hop, boxes can waddle, boxes can even skid if they get enough momentum! (Hell they can probably fly with their straws as propellers if you really wanted them to) I built a squash/stretch pose, but I don't like it to much, feel free to use it, or push your skills more by bringing out a squash/stretch feel just by your poses. And that straw, excellent opportunity to bring out some follow through action (sometimes improperly called 2ndary action) The straw is also a great way to put some character in. (Think of Woody in Toy Story 1 inside of the soda cup running into Pizza Planet)

So here's the model
and here it is zipped up if that is easier to download

Of course feel free to alter the model, or add simple (I said simple, like: a cube) environmental props to play with.

EXCERCISE A:
Simple locomotion. Pick 2 emotions and move the box from 1 side of the screen to the other with one emotion (go ahead and start and stop offscreen) and then back with the other. You might want to experiment with stride length and a hop cycle. Or not. If your having trouble choosing an emotion, do them all, or grab a
thesaurus and look up all the permutations.
A BONUS POINTS: think of a real emotion, don't choose sad, choose "I'm so depressed I can hardly breathe" sad, or "agony, agony, my lover is lost to me" wringing sad. These are both sad, but different kinds of movement. Don't just act sad, RE-ACT to something.

EXCERCISE B:
Advanced locomotion. Pick 2 more emotions. Have the character cross the screen not just with 1 repeated motion, but with varied motions. (Like hopping in, skidding, twirling, and cartwheeling out.)
B BONUS POINTS: show the character change emotions from the first to the second, while on screen.

EXCERCISE C:
Difficult. I was just reading "Acting for Animator's" and he was talking about how we are often negotiating status between each other. Try this, a juice box is waiting around. A 2nd juice box enters the screen. They exit together. The 2nd juice box is the boss of the first juice box. Try to show that in how the 1st juice box energy
movement and attitude change when the 2nd one is around. (yeah, I told you it was difficult)

Good Luck.

Like always lets say due by next Wednesday night Jan.19 and if you are reading this after then you might want to post a new thread to get critiques.

Keep in mind Disney's 12 Principles

Timing
Ease In and Out (or Slow In and Out)
Arcs
Anticipation
Exaggeration
Squash and Stretch
Secondary Action
Follow Through and Overlapping Action
Straight Ahead Action and Pose-To-Pose Action
Staging
Appeal
Personality

-Alonso


(you know, now that I look at it, I'm not sure that is the official 12, but I like this list pretty well, it beats out "solid Drawing" for our purposes at least)

[MarkusAralius382]

Wow looks like a toughy . It will be a fun challenge though!, this will really improve everyones animation skills!

[Drakkheim]

off with the kid gloves and on with the sledgehammers, eh? This should be.. challenging to say the least.

[starwarsguy]

Ahh, a challenge. Here I go. And this time, my 250free account works, so I can post it, unlike Exercise 2.

[amarillospider]

Is this to hard? I didn't think it was to bad ie make a happy bouncing box, make a sad bouncing box, and then push yourself further afterwards.

Here's a little thing to play with to experiment with how emotions can affect a walk cycle


Remember, little steps. Just try a simple approach, once you accomplish that move on to more advanced.

-Alonso

[MarkusAralius382]

Oh no its not to hard. The excersizes difficulty have been increasing at a good rate! I'm new to AM and i'm managing to pull it off so far

[nos3d13]

this is the kind of thing ive been waiting for

[MarkusAralius382]

Well I finished excersize A! Here it is

Excersize A

[Biotron2000]

Nice walk cycle! I like the skipping, but watch out for slipping. Good job!

[inkblot]

Here's my movement cycle (the first one, that is). First ever attempt at character animation.

Attached File(s)

 juicebox.mov ( 608.23k ) Number of downloads: 200

 

[starwarsguy]

Wow, great job guys. I'm gonna start mine soon. I've been... busy.

[Nat]

Here's my first go at this animation boot camp thing. I did a slight variation on excercise C, instead of both characters exiting the scree together, one of them stays behind. Enjoy, it's called "Sleeping on duty."

Attached File(s)

 juice.mov ( 389.86k ) Number of downloads: 194

 

[MarkusAralius382]

Wow Nat!, you did a great job at giving those juice boxes personality, keep it up!

[Biotron2000]

Here's a few ideas I had, I will work on them some more Saturday.

Normal walk cycle:

Attached File(s)

 bc3walk.mov ( 64.27k ) Number of downloads: 148

 

[Biotron2000]

Walking a bit slower (same cycle):

Attached File(s)

 bc3walkslow.mov ( 44.94k ) Number of downloads: 125