Topic 1 - Character Design

Character Sketches & Poses

Character Description

Name: Kyle MacMillian

Tagline: "I fight using my virtues, not physical strength."

Description:

Kyle is part of a secret order known as the Legionnaires. The Legionnaires are made up of male warriors who intend to seek further knowledge into Starlight energy by harnessing the powers of elements. He is also Psuedo-Human, as the other half of him consists of a spectral being known as the Psytrix. He is also a master swordsman, having learned the ways of the Bushido and earned the right to call himself the Leader of the Psytrix.

Story:

Kyle is the son of the former leader of the Psytrix civilization, Lord Zealous. He had two older brothers, Kilian and Kendall. However, Lord Zealous and his wife was assassinated by oneof their two bodyguards, Dreax, during a coup d'état of the Psytrix leadership. Kyle and his two brothers were then taken in by the other bodyguard, Tzory. Tzory, unable to cope with the responsibility of taking care of 3 children at once, placed all three children in an orphanage. One day however, the orphanage was burned down by Dreax and Kyle was the only survivor. Feeling extremely guilty, Tzory lit his mask on fire and burned it to his face, unable to face Lord Zealous and his wife for the irresponsible actions that he has caused. Tzory then took Kyle to a local town where he started his own order called "The Ghost Order". This order consisted of the Legionnaires, male warriors and Invokers, female mages. Each team must have one Legionnaire and one Invoker. He then harnessed the power of the atom gods and imbued the students with elements. All that was done within the period of 17 years.

When Kyle turned 18, he managed to become a Legionnaire and master the element of pure Starlight. He was sent on several missions, such as recovering an ancient artifact and ancient scrolls. Throughout this course of action, he found out that he was actually part of a race called the Psytrix and that he was the rightful heir to the throne of the Psytrix civilization. However, this throne is currently being usurped by Kyle's eldest brother, Killian, who actually survived the fire. Killian was not a villian though, he was just holding the position, waiting for his brother to realize about his background. Kilian is part of a evil organization called Dientra, led by the evil Dreax. However, Kilian is in the organization for one purpose - to save Kyle's older and his younger brother Kendall, who was being brainwashed by an evil force and to exact revenge on Dientra for killing his parents.

At that time, Kendall was evil. He tried to kill Kyle many times, but failed. There was once where Kendall killed Kyle's lover, Chika, whom was also at that time, an elite member of Dientra. This also awakened Kyle's Psytrix side. All three brothers are Psytrix and each of them have one ability unique only to them - Kyle can manipulate time, Kendall can manipulate matter and Kilian can manipulate space.

In the end, Kendall and Kyle had one final square off. Kendall used his Psytrix powers against Kyle but it was no use. Kyle managed to overpower Kendall and defeat him. However, just when Kyle's back was turned against Kendall, Kendall gave him a fatal blow in his chest. Kyle mustered up his strength and then slashed Kendall with his sword, killing him. This death also lead to Kendall being released from the brainwash spell. However, due to excessive blood loss from the wound, Kyle died too.

However, that was not the end. Each of the three brothers have unique trait that no one else in the world, not even the psytrix, have. That is that each of them have 3 lives each. Kendall and Kilian actually died in the orphanage fire but was resurrected again by their unique power. Kyle was resurrected again too, but he disappeared from the world for 5 years to train up so that he can protect the ones he love. Now, his loved ones are in danger again and now he has to reappear to save them. With this, he dons on a new look and a new personality - a serious personality with a bushido code manner.

Driving force:

At first, his driving force in life was to bring honor to the Legionnaire name and protecting his friends. When he met Chika, that was his new driving force. After Chika died, Kyle was distraught but he got back up on his knees again and fell in love with his Invoker partner, Yvonne. He had two children with her before he died, unidentical twins, one boy and one girl. His driving force is to protect his family, his friends and his town.

Appearance:

1. One of the key features of Kyle is his black trenchcoat. It is called "Mantle of Masters". This mantle is to symbolize Kyle's leadership among the Psytrix and all leaders of the Psytrix must wear this mantle. This mantle can change appearance according to the personality of the person wearing it. It is long and flowing, symbolizing his heroic personality, replacing a cape instead. However, the irony is that it is black, symbolizing the darkness in his heart.
2. Another visual feature of Kyle is his katana. His katana has a white sheath and black blade, with a golden hilt wrapped in purple cloth. The black blade is to symbolize his personality after his initial death, darker and more serious than before, as this katana was only acquired after his first death. The hilt is white, however, to symbolize that he is still a good person. However, this may also represent the fact that looks may be deceiving.
3. When Kyle becomes berserk and he uses his Psytrix power without himself knowing, his eyes turn black and his pupils turn white. This shows that something within Kyle has changed and that a certain darkness is enveloping his soul. Also, the pupils become smaller, hinting on the possible insanity that might take over his mind, making him more of a feral beast with extremely dangerous power in this form. However, if Kyle decides to use his Psytrix power but is not in a berserk state and has total control over himself, his eyes become grey and his pupils become a light, glowing blue. This shows that the darkness is taking over his mind, but Kyle managed to control it, giving off a blue aura in the pupils and even harness it as his own power.
4. Another feature is his spiky and explosive blue hair. His spiky hair represents his explosive personality, being able to charge in without a single doubt either. Blue somehow contradicts the spiky hair as it represents calmness. This shows that Kyle is somewhere in between, he thinks before he reacts, but when he reacts, he has no regrets and never turns back from a fight that he started.

Behavior:

1. Kyle has a personality in which he treasures his friends and family more than anything else. At first, Kyle's personality was a more friendly and sociable person, well-liked by everyone he meets and rash. He was young and somehow immature. However, after his first death, his personality changed. He became a colder and somewhat more sardonic person, making less jokes and thinking more about the situation before rushing in to fight. His personality for caring for friends didn't change fortunately.
2. Kyle walks in a slow and majestic manner. He holds his sheathed sword in his left hand when he is not using it. His manner of walking is such that when any enemies try to ambush him, if they get near him, they instantly get defeated due to his time manipulation abilities.
3. He has his own morals and values but he also follows the samurai bushido code of honor to a certain extent. He doesn't strike an enemy further when the enemy is already down and unable to fight. He also doesn't strike an enemy when they're not looking and would instead fight them head-on instead. However, if the opponent is truly a nasty and repulsive being, he will abandon these values for the time being and make sure that the villian gets his justice served to him in a rightful manner.
4. In front of his children and lover however, he is more of a caring person and likes to spend time with his children, bringing them out to different places and spending quality time with them. He also loves Yvonne very deeply, but sometimes, he does not think of her feelings and does what he feels is the rightful thing for his family.

Short Dialogue:

Kyle: This shall be the final showdown, between you and me that is, brother.

Kendall: I'm impressed. You know that I'm your brother. Why bother even fighting me?

Kyle: The fact that you're my brother is enough for me to fight you.

Kendall: Why is that?

Kyle: You killed Chika and Daniel. You have sins that can never be forgiven.

Kendall: They deserved to die. Chika was a traitor and Daniel was just a weakling.

Kyle: I'm not finished. They are not the reason I am here to defeat you. I have come to save your soul. Only by saving your soul, can I appease their departed spirits. That is what they would have wished for me.

(Readies demonic starlight energy arms)

Kendall: Maybe you should join them in hell. They will be satisfied with the company you will give them!

(Kyle and Kendall starts fighting)

References:

Vergil from Devil May Cry

I got the trenchcoat idea from Vergil along with the katana idea. Also, the gloves were adapted into Kyle. The sword style, poses and the way my character fights is also adapted from this character. Vergil is a cold and sardonic person who would do anything to achieve his goals. Part of that personality, such as the sardonism, was introduced into Kyle's personality.

Jellal from Fairy Tail

I adopted Jellal's blue hair and put it into my character. The blue hair idea also suited Jellal's personality, as he was cold, calculating and evil but at the same time calm too. I also got the idea of the leather boots, with the pants tucked into the boots from this character.

Ichigo from BLEACH

The spiky hair of my character was based on this character. Ichigo has a tendency to rush into things recklessly. Also, the idea of my sword being black came from this character too. I also adopted some personality traits and different sword styles from this character.

Demon Eyes Kyo from Samurai Deeper Kyo

The golden hilt idea came from this character, who's kodachi (type of sword) has a golden hilt. Also, Kyo's personality, in the sense that he's a demon that kills all who stands in his way but is still a good guy as he cares for his comrades, can be similar to my character, without the maniac killer part though.

Reflection:

By completing this exercise, i have learnt the many concepts of character design. Yeah, sure, anyone can just come up with a character within an hour or so, but to make a character with actual significant background and personality that other people can relate to is hard. It requires a lot of brainstorming and drafts to create just one character. Failed designs would just be refined until I am satisfied with it. To be truthful, I had started planning out this story, which I was eventually going to pen it out about 3 years ago. However, over time, I had undergone many changes in my character design and refined it. Now, I have learnt even more tips on how to refine my character design.

Also, on a minor note, this exercise also taught me tips on human analogy, on how to get body proportions correct in drawing and how to draw different male and female figures.

Overall, I think this is a very fun and interesting exercise as it let's me do what I like to do - drawing, even though I'm not that good at it. It also gives me great insight on character design, which I would like to learn even more about in the future.

3D Visualization and Animation - Moving On!

In my Semester 2.2, I have this subject called 3D Visualization and Animation (3DVA) for short.

Henceforth, all posts from here onward will be related to 3DVA. I will be reusing this blog for 3DVA since I hate creating multiple blogs for the same purpose and I like my blog URL. Therefore, any arguements against my idea of keeping this blog is invalid.

For your reference, the posts below are all related to IN3D. Those are my old works. You can refer to them if you want.

Hope my 3DVA work will be as good as my IN3D work and after looking at the several topics and the different portfolios, I have deduced that this subject is my kind of subject and it should be fun (Manga drawing and animation and stuffs like that).

Well, that's all.

Assignment 2: Self Critique

Self Critique

In my opinion, I think my final animation turns out to be the exact same thing as my storyboard. However, I think that my animation is not very good. There were basic principles of animation introduced, such as squash & stretch ( the squash & stretch of the magnetic part of the arm ), anticipation ( the robotic arm anticipating its picking up of the box ) and ease in ease out ( the robotic arm picking up the boxes ). However, there were some cases where the principles could be introduced, but I didn't introduce them.

For instance, the boxes moving along the conveyor belt. I should have made them ease in and ease out, making the animation more natural instead of an abrupt stop.

Next, when I applied squash, there was a gap in between the joint of the arm end and the arm end itself. Naturally, when I applied stretch, part of the joint was also overridden by the arm end. This caused the animation too look abit more flimsy.

Also, when I was moving the boxes, I noticed that the first cargo box moves slightly. This might be an err on my part, since at one point of time I was having trouble with the parent constraints of my box object. I did not change the offsets properly.

There is also one part where when the robotic arm examines the cargo box, the arm end itself squashes a little. This is due to the squash that I have input in the next frame.

Assignment 2: Scenario 2

This is how I created my Robotic Arm animation.

Process

Using the rigged scene I have gotten from the previous exercise, I have started on my animation.

I then start with my first clip from my storyboard. The robot is busy stacking boxes.

The second clip of my storyboard. The robot goes on to pick up the box. I added a squash deformer so that it would fulfill the basic principle of animation - squash & stretch. The magnetic end of the arm will squash when it touches the box. It will then stretch after a few frames.

The third clip of my storyboard. The robot puts down the box that it picked up. I set the blend parent to 1 so that the box will move along with the arm. When the box is settled, I set the bledn parent back to 0 so that the arm would let go of the box.

The fourth clip of my storyboard. The robot first examines the box. It then gets suprised and then shakes its head in disapproval. I have made the swivel base move when the robot nodded so that it would look more natural and that the robot would look more alive.

The fifth clip of my storyboard. The robot goes on to pick up the box. I also added squash and stretch for this part. However, the squash and stretch is more vigorous now, since the robot pressed onto the box with more force.

The sixth clip of my storyboard. I then made the robot throw the box, by setting the blend parent of the box to 0 when the arm is near the edge. Then, I rotated and move the box, set keyframes so that the box would look like it was thrown.

The seventh clip of my storyboard. The robot will then spin around and around due to the force of the throw. I then set the swivel base to rotate a few times.

The last clip in my storyboard. I then made the robot look at the screen.

I then used the graph editor to make the animation more natural.

A few times that I had used graph editor include:

Making the ease in and ease out motion when the arm goes on to pick a box up.

Making the suprise motion after the arm examines the box.

Making the swing more natural by making it lose velocity the longer it spins.

After smoothing my animation, I playblasted it, using a resolution of 640 x 360.

This is the result of my Robotic Arm Animation:

Week 13 - IK Rigging

This is how I rigged my models so that I can prepare it for animation.

Process

First, I opened the Maya scene file that was provided to me. This scene would be used to do rigging and then be used for Assignment 2, which is the animation of my own robot arm.

First, I created joints at several points of the machine. I then opened the hypergraph and laid the layout stacked so that I can see the hypergraph and my animation at the same time.

I then added an IK Handle and then set the hierarchy for the skeleton. As you can see here, all the joints and parts of the machine are now grouped together.

I then added an Arm Control locator so that it would be easier to move my machine around using that locator. I added an annotation to show what does the locator do.

I then set the rest position for the magnet part of the arm so that the magnet part of the arm would pick up the box properly.

I then parented the swivel base with the upper part of the mechanical arm. This is so that when my swivel base rotates, the mechanical arm moves together with it too, thus acting as a real swivel base.

I then set the limitations of the mechanical arm so that there is a maximum in which the arm can stretch and retract. Then, I collapsed all the elements in the hypergraph.

Next, I set parent constraints to the box so that when the mechanical arm moves, the box moves along with it. This can be adjusted by setting the blend parent of the box to either 1 or 0 to enable and disable the sticking.

This is the end result of my IK Rigging:

Techniques

This lab has prepared me for my upcoming assignment.

It also helps familiarize me with dealing with skeleton hierarchies, IK Handles and constraints.

Reflection

Overall, I think this exercise helped me alot and I learned alot.

However, One thing I like to note is how this is taught step by step. Since this is taught step by step, I might be familiar with this certain scene, but other scenes I have to figure them out for myself, which is quite hard.

However, If i just plainly followed what the instructions said, I would have never learnt anything. This gave me a lot of insight on what's to come for future animations.

References

Maya Autodesk Tutorials - Animation

Assignment 2: Storyboard

Scenario 2

Robot Name: Co-troller

Story: Co-troller is a robot built by a packaging factory to stack boxes for shipping. One day, Co-troller got fed up with his job and decide to rebel. He started to throw tantrums.

1) The robot is stacking boxes.

2) The robot bends down and starts to lift the box.

3) The robot then takes the box and puts it at its side. The next box moves forward.

4) The robot turns to the front. However, it shakes its head in disapproval.

5) The robot then picks up the next box. The boxes moves forward.

6) The robot then throws the box away.

7) The robot then turns around 360 degrees.

8) The robot comes to a stop and looks at the camera.

Week 12 Labs 1 & 2 - Online Tutorial Reflection

1) Do you need to be able to draw well to create good 2D animation? Explain your view.

The animator need not have great drawing skills, but he/she must have sufficient amount of drawing skills in order to make the animation look plausible enough. No one would want to look at a sequences of non-readable scribbles in an animation. It must be clear enough to show what the animator is doing. More importantly is the 12 basic principles of animation. The animation will look better once the 12 basic principles are applied.

2) Do you need to be able to draw well to create good 3D animation? Explain your view.

Basically, I think 3D animation would be easier on those who cannot draw very well. 3D uses models and meshes, so if you are more of a practical person, then you would fare better than people who can draw well. However, the good ability to draw = the good ability to picture things. If a person can picture things better, of course it would help them better in their animation. Best is if a person can have both at the same time.

3) What do you think would separate a piece of poor animation from a piece of good animation? In other words, how would you go about deciding if a piece of animation is good or bad?

To decide whether a piece of animation is good or bad would be to check whether how many basic principles of animation are there in a piece of animation. If there are close to none in an animation, the audience would have no idea what the animator is trying to do. All the characters would be like robots, having not much or no realism at all. The next factor is the frames per second of an animation. If the frames per second of an animation is too low, the animation would look very choppy and not smooth.

4) In 2D animation, you need to be very aware of timing at a frame by frame level, using timing charts and other techniques - but for 3D animation, this is handled using the graph editor, which is more concerned with manipulating rates of change over time.Does this affect how you approach your animation work? Explain.

Yes. Because of my past experiences with animation, I am accustomed to doing frame by frame animations with programs such as adobe imageready. I would usually photoshop a sequence of images, with each image slightly different than the previous image and then join them together using imageready. However, in Maya, the movements of everything is simplified and it saves time also. Now, I am trying hard to work with the interface of Maya as I am still not accustomed to animating with Maya.

5) Give a brief critique of Maya as an animation tool. Don't just say Maya makes animation difficult, or easy, or that you need to learn a lot of stuff to use Maya - explain what Maya does well and not so well in terms of creating animation.

I feel that the interface of Maya is hard to work with. This is because the tools are situated in a very messy manner and that first time users for Maya or newcomers will have extreme difficulty getting accustomed to the interface. It is very hard to find what you are looking for, and one small mistake might lead you to having redo your entire animation. Even the playback of Maya is too fast, as when you try to play it normally in Maya (not playblasting), it does not adhere to the fps (frames per second) rate that I have set and moves abnormally fast, rendering me unable to see anything. However, what I like about Maya is the animation graph. It is easy to use and very good to refer to.