Sunday, April 17, 2011

AnimRigs contest blocking

Hey fellas, long time!! I'm taking part in the AnimRigs contest (the prizes are superb!!). So here's my rough

blocking. I really need some fresh eyes on this so lemme know where I'm going wrong,
what I need to push or tone down etc etc, before I take this shot too far.
I got time till 8th May to finish this. BTW that robot guy's lipsync is just basic. I wanted
to see if I could convincingly animate that guy to talk (considering all that his jaw does is go up,
down and sideways).

P.S. I plan to further put a bone in the dog's bowl that's got cobwebs around it (I'll even put
cobwebs around his kennel) and I'll fill up the Robot's area with
lot of goodies (like toys, books etc).

Edit: Darn! The QT video gets cropped on screen right (in Google Chrome). I suggest you guys to
either zoom into the Google chrome page or watch it in Firefox or download the video. :)

EDIT 2: Here's the Flipbook test of the shot (I had the robot
spinning a basketball initially but dropped the idea because it
could mislead people to thinking the dog simply wants to know
"honestly" how to spin the basketball! Haha!)


damncreative said...

ho ho ho. Totally love the idea and acting bro. Fantastic blocking. Man you are getting good at animals , sweet. Really love the whole framing of the shot and how you have acted your characters within the space. Like the way you have balanced both the characters at the start and then the dog takes over the screen.Btw what rig is that robot? Just curious. AGot few suggestions what i can think off. Dunno whether i am right about it. Any way

After the robot says "you kinda alienate people " and goes into that pose. I dont get it. What is going on is his mind? IS it like oops i should n have said it . That is how it seems like right now. What i suggest is after he delivers that dialogue , let him go into a casual pose. Like i didn't wanna say this to you but you made me say it. Then when the dog barges into his face, then actually the robot can realize "damn i should have said that". It brings the character out. Wat say?

The pose of thr robot when he holds the tree, The right hand kinda needs a better posing. I know its a constrained space, at least get the knuckles clasping on the tree bark like you have it on the left hand, so it breaks the straight pose

Other than this this is coming out super fantastic. Awesome

Jose Diaz said...

Hi Dapoon.
Blocking is looking great!

I really like the acting with the dog, I think you can kepp refining what you have. Maybe he could glanze back at the guy once more at the end. An eyedart.

The guys acting is what needs work I think. I really don't get a couple of gestures he does. I don't get pose 135 or the headshaking he does after 171. Explore more what he is thinking. I think that you can play a lot of what he is thinking just with the eyes. It will make your scene less busy. And also give contrast between the characters.

Anyway, great start. I must start blocking my shot also. Time is ticking :D


Dapoon said...

Thanks guys! :D

I see a lot of people misinterpreted the Robot's gestures (my bad).

At 120-126, he merely wants to speak more on how the dog alienates people (since he knows a lot about influencing people and in fact I showed him reading a book "How to win friends" too in the beginning) but is cut short by the dog who can't really take critics although he asks for them. So no matter how diplomatic the robot wants to sound, he fails.

The robot shaking his head (170-183) is when he's like "No no, you're getting me wrong! I didn't mean it like that".

The story is that the dog and robot are friends but the robot seems to be getting more attention from the people than the dog (which, I'm hoping, would be explained by the cobwebbed bowl of the dog, and the goodies of the robot). So dog wants to know what he did wrong.

So having clarified that (and seeing that the robot's acting isn't really portraying that), I would really appreciate some inputs on how to make it crystal clear.

At the end, I'm thinking of making the dog, while he turns his back on the robot, look at the cobwebbed bowl, and then a realization that maybe whatever the robot said is true and then a sudden dismissal like "No it's not true!"

BTW, I've edited the post and dropped in my Flipbook test (I had the robot spinning a basketball initially but dropped the idea because it could mislead people to thinking the dog simply wants to know "honestly" how to spin the basketball! Haha!)

I hope I'm not sounding too defensive like the dog. :D

I'll post an update soon!

Vinay, I really like your suggestion of making him go to a casual pose after saying his line. I'll see if I can try that out.

Jose, I'll definitely bring in more acting on the robot through his eyes!

And oh yes, I'm looking forward to seeing your update too! :)

BTW, in your entry, since you're going for a spooky environment, I would try playing with the focal length of the camera, making it look creepier. Also the dog's lower half is completely hidden. Unless, it's intentional, I'd consider pulling the camera a little down so he doesn't look abruptly cut. But then I understand it's just the basic stage now. :)

Dapoon said...

BTW Vinay the robot rig is called Yomm and the dog rig is called Max. These are the rigs from the AnimationRigs site. Just go to their site and click on Anim-Mates. :)