Latests From Disney

Well the cat's outta the bag as to what Disney's next project will be. Walt Disney Pictures has selected a release date for its long in the works adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s THE SNOW QUEEN, titled FROZEN. It's a 3-D animated feature that will be screening on Nov. 27, 2013. The film takes the place of Pixar's Untitled Dinosaur Film on the schedule.

Related news, Marvel Studios has moved up the release of its rumored CAP 2 secret 2014 release from June 27 to April 4.

Death of Steve Jobs

It's been 4 days since the death of Steve Jobs and it's still taking some time to sink in. One of the greatest and most innovative minds of our time. You will be missed.

Sparky Animation Co-Production

So here's a little bit of some local news. Sparky Animation in conjunction with Japan's Duckbill Entertainment, Baku Enterprise Inc. and Bandai Visual Inc. is set to produce a new CGI animated television program based on the best-selling Japanese book series, One Stormy Night. This deal represents Singapore's first animation co-production with three Japanese partners. Recent works that Sparky Animation has done include Dinosaur Train, with US-based The Jim Henson Company, and Mr. Moon with Skaramoosh (UK) and Title Entertainment (Canada).

REEL HAS BEEN UPDATED!

Erm not much to say about it, but the title says it all. This is the summary reel for whatever i've done in A.M and my current updated reel. Can be found under the "Animation Reel" tab.

Reference Resource

Wow, this is something really exciting. Well at least i'm excited while typing this post out. It's a website with a database of totally awesome reference. Just happened to chance upon it while looking the net up for animation stuff. Hope it proves to be an invaluable tool for all animators out there. Enjoy!

http://www.referencereference.com/

Pixar's lineup

So the latest on Pixar's upcoming lineup for 2012 and 2013 are, Brave and Monster's University respectively. I was looking around for information on the upcoming title "Brave" and found it to be quite interesting. Well first off it's Pixar's very first fairytail-ish feature. Apparently, it's also a first attempt at moving a little away from the Pixar film norms with a slightly darker storyline and grittier plot. More information on Wiki.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(2012_film)

Captain America

Hey people, just came across something that I thought i'd share. Was reading an article recently on Cap the movie and apparently, to get the effect for skinny Steve Rogers and the bulky one, they went all out with altering the image in post production...FRAME BY FRAME. Kudos to the studio that took the time and effort man....must have been a crazy ride. Full article can be found here:

http://www.awn.com/articles/3d/captain-america-poor-mans-process

The Last 10%

So what exactly is this last 10% a.k.a the polish phase that most animators refer to. Well it's the same thing that's been keeping me busy since the start of this last term of AM, hence a lack of presence on the blogs >.<
In any case it may be a little misleading calling it the last 10% as most of us tend to get the impression that it's simple cleanup house keeping etc. In reality, it can be anything from minor tweaks and cleanups to major overhauls and massive changes in your shots. Remember that feeling you got the last time you looked at your shot and went, "Geee...i wish i had changed how he got to that pose" or "hmmm he didn't looks quite like that was what he was doing". Yeah this is the time to make those changes.
I guess it's important to get yourself used to making big changes as working in the industry is no different. Director or supervising animator wants a change and bam you've gotta make that change. Don't be afraid to blow away large chunks of your animation, as this is all for improving the shot as a whole. Simple easy ways to manage the "bleeding" when you decide to "re-open the wound" would be to key all keys on the first pose just before the area of change and the last ok pose of that change, then WHAM delete everything and start fresh. This would mean doing the same things as before, blocking with nice solid poses splinning and pretty much the works.
You don't always want to re-renovate everything, at times working it through might prove to be the better option. Becareful however of "noodling" your shot to death (Reworking and adjusting things) You might end up losing important timing, accents and beats.

Final Stretch

So i'm finally in my last Class of Animation Mentor. Woooooowz. Where has the time gone? 18 months just flew by. Came and went. Well i AM a little sad that it's ended, hopefully will be able to make full use of what i've learnt in the future. For this final stretch it's MEGA POLISH time, so will probably be seeing the same few clips but maybe in a whole new light....hopfully a much better one.

Updated Reel

Well folks, just thought i'd drop a note about my updated reel. Feel free to check it out at the Animation Reel section of my blog - http://oneframesnap.blogspot.com/p/animation-reels.html

Was She Deaf (Polish Phase)

Alrighty so here's that Deaf clip that I was working on in Polish phase. Still have a few things left to tweak but the dates due so, what the heck.

Kung Fu Panda 2

Well, while I was back in Singapore, I took the opportunity to catch Kung Fu Panda 2. Gotta say, it's AWESOME. They really did a number on this one. Animation I felt was probably even better than the 1st, especially on the shots with Shen the peacock. Totally awe inspiring. Story wise, Panda 1 probably had a better script and plot, not to say that it was bad but just wasn't as wow'd by it like I was the first time around. Overall, a must see animation feature, if you have yet to catch it you better get to it!

Was She Deaf (Spline Phase)

Sorry i'm a little late again on the update. This is from last week's progress of the latest clip that i'm working on. Here we have it at the spline phase. Just smoothed out most of the important areas and refined most of the timing work. Facial is still in stepped, added in very rough lip sync.

Was She Deaf (Blocking Plus Phase)

So here's the Deaf clip in the Blocking Plus phase. Just trying to get more poses in at this point to make sure everything is working well and to see the flow of the action.

Portal 2 Investment Opportunities: Boots

Really awesome clip from Valve's Portal 2 Investment Opportunities Series. The whole packaging of the clip really sells well and has a really feel good thing going on.

Was She Deaf (Planning Phase)

Ok, so here's the planning phase of my latest bunch of shots that i've been working on.

Nutz...err final again - Final Facial Pass

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't been posting up anything new in the last few weeks. We recently started a new clip and I was going through the planning process what with thumbnails and shooting reference. Not much to show but here's the final with finishing touches on the facial animation of the last clip. This is the most up to date version of this clip but I suspect I may be revisiting when i hit class 6 next semester.

Just watched RIO

I managed to catch RIO today, gotta say it was pretty awesome. It looked sweet and the animation was crazy good. I think they nailed the atmosphere and the whole feel of the show. Music was spot on and characters were nicely developed. Nigel the Cockatoo was especially nice due to his flamboyant nature and attitude. Would have been nice to see him develop just a little bit more. I think probably the only thing not as wow-zers would have to be the general plot is quite expected and normal. Nothing extra ordinary or special happens in the story that you'd already expect.

Overall I think I enjoyed it more than MegaMind but probably still not as much as Tangled. Well....just my thoughts on it. Excellent show though, so for those thinking of catching it, you probably should.

Author of Howl's Moving Castle has passed away

Diana Wynne Jones, author of Howl's Moving Castle film of 2004 by Miyazaki has died at the age of 76 on  March 26. Details can be found here @ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8414429/Diana-Wynne-Jones.html.

Monsters Inc 2 pushed back to 2013

Monsters Inc 2 or Monsters University as it is now called has been pushed back to 2013. Judging from what little information that has been released, it seems likely that it will serve as a prequel to the original Monsters Inc.

Nutz Final

Ok so here's the last clip for the end of the term.

Thunder Cats Remake

For those of you who were excited at the He-man remake, here's the latests on the anime-ish remake of Thunder Cats...looking quite cool.

Latests Cars 2 Trailer

Spy movie of the year. Always looking foward to the next Pixar movie...just because all their work tends to be AWESOME!

Nutz Clip - WIP 03

Alright. This here is the polish phase for this week. Pretty much smoothed out all the kinks in the arcs and poses. Locked down the facial plus lip syncs. You'll probably want to add in all the little bits here and there and the small ideas you had along the way during this phase. Next week is the final for this clip where we will finese whatever parts that need to be finesed.

The illusionist

Nominated along with Toy story 3 and How to train your Dragon for best animated Oscar.
Very very nice animation. Most impressed.

Nutz Clip - WIP 02

Alright so for this week it's the Spline phase. Almost everything gets smooth out and the graph goes from step to linear...mostly. Sometimes you'd want to keep certain parts in stepped but for the most of it, linears normally the way to go. Refining arcs and making sure you don't lose your poses are key here.

Personality

So today in my A.M QnA, we were on the topic of personality and how it helps us improve our animation and take it to the next level. Often time we hear the age old complain of "the rig doesn't allow me to show my character's personality." Personally, i think saying that is not being really fair to yourself. We talked about how something as simple as a bouncing ball can have a huge array of different personalities, be it sadness, excitement or disappoinment. When all that's been said and done, a ball has only one controller and is a basic shape. Pushing the boundries of what your rig can do will really help with pushing your poses and passing the "rig is the problem" mark.

Personality also helps differentiate one character from another. You may have pegged a certain character you're animating with a trait. Let's say he's a grumpy person. Animating your character being a generic grumpy person will only get you so far. What helps you get past cliches and stand out above the rest it to be specific. Perhaps he's a grumpy person who has a chicken and egg problem. He wants more friends and because he has none he is grumpy...which is why he has none. Sooo adding this in means that not only will he's poses be grumpy, there will be instances where he would probably try to make some kind of effort at being friendly but still being grumpy all at the same time. Your poses will change accordingly along with mannerisms and acting choices for that character.

Having a good backstory is also a good way to come up with acting choices that define the character's personality. If you have a character that is supposed to be annoyed, it could be for many reasons that may not be present in that shot you are animating. It could be because he already has been bugged for the 100th time today. Or maybe he's just had a fight with his wife. Perhaps he's trying to concentrate on something. All these reasons give life and change to the acting choices that you decide.

Nutz Clip - WIP

Here's last week's progress for my "Nutz" acting clip. The phase i'm in shown above is blocking plus. You'll want to try to nail down all the poses and as much of the inbetweens as possible to get a smooth transition into the spline phase later. Everything is still kept in stepped mode, as you'll want to get as much info in there before the big jump into linear.



This one shows the Blocking phase. It's key to nail down ALL the golden or story telling poses in this phase. Think of it as a comic strip. In a comic all you get are poses that tell a story. The audience needs to draw that connection between the pose and what's happening in the shot. You may also want to include breakdowns to remind youself in the next phase how you want each action to flow.

Animation Reel 28-02-2011

So here's my latests updated animation reel. I'm still currently have an acting clip coming up which is still WIP. I'll post those up as soon as possible.

Past Posts

Just though i'd put down a link to a shared blog that me and a few other friends put together some time ago. It has all the past articles and sharings that I have posted. Enjoy!

http://gimbalocked.blogspot.com/

Welcome

Welcome Anyone.

It's my very 1st post on my new Animator's Blog called "One Frame SNAP". I'll generally post anything and everything related to animation both personally and interesting events and information happening in the Animation world. I hope to keep it both entertaining and informative.

Cheers,
Jono