Further Tools Development.

Recent Development.
This post was just to display two new characters I've created to add to my Tools idea. As I continue to get a feel for this idea and create more characteristics for these characters, I feel it's definetely the idea I want to carry forward. I've also actually drawn the Tools logo I created using real tools and slightly revised it. It's possible further changes will be made due to the fact some people have not immedietely realised that the tools spell out the word.



Revised Tools Logo.




PowerDrill Character Development.



Chisel Character Development.

Characters:

• As the designs of these characters may suggest, The PowerDrill character very much resembles a loveable dog. I feel this would be a good comedy character to which an audience would take a liking to in an animation as most animated feature length films require a "comic relief" character. Also, despite being a potentially very dangerous tool, the lovable PowerDrill would not find it in himself to use his skills to harm anyone and would be scared of certain situations ala The Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz.

• The Chisel character meanwhile has a chiseled body and likes to show off this fact. This character would very much resemble the classic "High School Jock" character seen in many films and would be into lifting weights whilst craving the attention of female chisels.

• More thought has went into the other characters too. The Hammer drawn in the previous post is most likely to be the lead character who's trying to save the day. It would be this hammer leading the way along with several young tools in an attempt to save the tool shed from being dimolished.

• Much like the toy soldiers in Pixars "Toy Story" the nails would almost act as an army marching along in series. The leader of the army of nails meanwhile would be a Hammer portraying a classic tough drill instructor.

• The Screw from the previous blog with moustache would play the role of a friendly and helpful scientist-esq character who would help the young hammer and his friends.

• A Buzzsaw Character (Called "Buzz LightSaw") who is used against his ownwill to destroy not just wood but other tools.

• An all knowing, old, wise Vice who was the first tool to be placed into the Toolshed. Over time however and having reamined inactive, the Vice has rusted away but continues to give help to those who seek it.

• A group of evil wrenches who are trying their best to stop the Hammer and his friends from completeing their mission. The wrenches come from another Tool Shed and dont want their rivals to survive.

Goober.

The Character
One thing that has been discussed most weeks and proves to be a very important element in good animations is the use of good characters. One character which I actually created many years ago and remain drawing to this day is a character called "Goober." I felt this would be a good opportunity to display this character and show how I've used this character to create a mock iPod advert called the "gPod". This was created by taking an already existing iPod advert and drawing over the human silhouettes with a Goober silhouette. I later took this idea and furthered it more by creating a gPod advert animation on ToonBoom.

Although I don't believe I'll actually be using this character in any capacity this semester, I feel it's a good idea to post him and attempt to further his characteristics and perhaps he'll be used in future projects.


Goober - Computer Drawing.



Goober and Landscape Computer Drawing.




gPod Advert.

Animated gPod Advert.

Characteristics

Goobers appearence resembles that of an almost goat-like and camel-like creature. Coloured purple with two large teeth and two large tiresome eyes, Goober is never seen without trembling. This is one of the constant rules concerning Goober as it displays his nervousness. Goober also proves to be rather goofy at times and talks with an amusing accent. The character of Goober serves no real purpose. He merely wanders the grass-filled landscapes and rarely approaches other creatures out of fear. Goober enjoys eating grass and other vegetation. He also enjoys eating mushrooms and toadstools however has become wary after some bad expereiences.

Weeks 4 and 5.

Just a quick blog detailing the progress that's been made over Weeks 4 and 5. After coming up with my possible tools idea, I've continued to run with the idea. I've continued to sketch possible characters and thought more about the plot which will be needed to explain within the promotional advert animatic if it is indeed what I decide to do. After having pitched this idea to other students who I will likely be foriming a group with, I feel my idea has been successfully understood. Upon explaining the concept and what my plans are, others have already begun to pitch small gags and ideas so it's very possible this will continue on for the final assessment.

As well as thinking about possible animatic ideas, It's also been made clear to us that we should try and take ideas from whatever we can. It's important to gather ideas from personal experience and be influenced from already existing works to come up with our own ideas.

The lab work over the last two weeks has once again helped to get used to the new ToonBoom and revisit certain animation principals such as Squash and Stretch which is the technique used to emphasize certain actions by manipulating the pysical form of an object or person. Using the Squash and Stretch technique can really aid an animation.

By drawing walk cycles on ToonBoom it enabled us to create believeable movement in characters and by looping one series of drawings allows for a character to be seen as walking. The timing and movement of a person is very important and can convey a lot of thing about certain characters. I felt by revisiting walk cycles it furthered helped my knowledge of how they work and how important they are. It also helped to get into my head the idea of pacing.

Another Lab exercise briefly carried out in Week 5 was using the lip sync tools in ToonBoom although I feel this is one area in ToonBoom which I will have to learn more about as I am not entirely sure about using this tool at this time. Timing a characters mouth to move at the right time and make the shapes they should be making is another very important element to a successful animation so it's vital I get to know this tool.

Developed Characters and Logo for Tools.

This is just a small update which includes some pictures I've drawn on the computer to show the development into some of the Tool characters which were sketched from the previous week. The logo meanwhile, which could possibly help in future for drawing the title, has been made up from various pictures of tools I found on the internet. I feel this is something which resembles the logos from many animated movies which feature their theme in the title.

Tools Logo

Hammer Development

ScrewDriver Development

Screw Development

Saw Development

Week 3

Week three of Animation Planning and Application allowed for more practice of ToonBoom version 4. Once again it provided an opportunity to learn on the new layout and draw rough sketches to begin with and then clean up these drawings much like traditional animation techniques. The task included drawing a tulip using the many tools provided such as the Brush, Pen, Pencil and Line tools and then using The Light Table and Layer tabs to clean up the original rough drawing.

After drawing the tulip, we had to animate the tulip moving from side to side which helped to illustrate how to plan the movement in advance by creating keyframes and then plan the inbetweens. This also helped with the adjustment of timing in the animation. The workout sheets also helped to show the user how to import an image, in this instance the image of a ladyug, and include it in the animation with the use of a peg. Although I never actually got to complete this part of the exercise, I feel it's something I can learn for the future as it's certainly a tool which will prove helpful for the final project. This is certainly something which I will look into in the coming weeks.

Tools.

One possible idea which I've been giving a lot of though as of late and feel I may use further down the line is my idea of a Pixar (and other Animation companies) parody. After having seen many of the themes used for cinematic animation film releases (ie. Toys, Cars, Fish, Bugs, Robots, Bees etc.) I felt it would be amusing to send this up by choosing Tools as the theme for the next big budgeted animation.

Characters could include: Hammers, Screwdrivers, Buzzsaws, Spanners, Wrenches, Nails and the like. No real thought has went into the plot yet but one possibility could include The Tools having to come together to save their Tool Shed from being knocked down by humans. Another possibility may include just creating a movie advert promoting the film. This would allow me to include many tool realated pun gags and just give a brief outline of the story much like that of a real advertisement for a feature length movie.

Below are just some small, rough sketches which I've drawn and will later develop better as I try and further this idea.

Comparing Software.

This blog will look at two different software packages discussing the Pros and Cons of each package. When choosing a software package it's always a good idea for the user to take the pros and cons of the different packages into consideration and see what suits their needs best. Everything should be considered before making a final decision.

The first chosen package which will be looked at is ToonBoom 4 while the second chosen package is Flash Professional 8.

ToonBoom 4

Pros:

• Enhanced workspace with customizable tool docking.
• Familiar feel of traditional animation with digital tool enhancements.

Cons:

• Having to adjust settings in QuickTime can prove to be an annoyance.
• May take a while for new users to get used to the programme.

Flash Professional 8

Pros:

• Easy to adjust to from Flash MX.
• Improves on minor flaws in previous versions.
• Intensive focus on developer functionality.
• Additional one-click effects.

Cons:

• Even more cluttered than Flash MX.
• Some "new" features are frivolous and useless.
• The price tag is hefty for both Basic and Professional

The Red Balloon Treatment

Week 2 Class

In todays class we were really made to think about plot, characters, setting etc. By using the example of the story: "The Red Balloon" We had to really break the story down and look at all the different elements in our groups. By doing so, it will no dout help us when we have to produce our own ideas. In our groups, we also had to look at the story and provide our own ideas for the plot. By contributing our different ideas, our group came up with several alernative endings which could have been used. The first idea was a lot happier compared to the much darker second idea.

• Alternate Ending 1: We hear what is to believed to be the burst of the balloon from the perspective of the boy in the bakery. However upon leaving the bakery, he finds the bullies lying in the alleyway next to the bakery dazed and confused and the balloon (still in one piece) hovering above implying it had outsmarted the bullies. The boy and the the balloon then continue walking on down the road towards home.

• Alternate Ending 2: Devastated by the loss of his balloon, the boy lays down next to the burst balloon weeping and begins to smother himself in the remains of the burst balloon as the screen fades to black.

Lab Work

Todays Lab allowed us the opportunity to try and grasp the new ToonBoom Version 4. Using the Tutorial Workbooks to complete the Old Man Running Cycle, it allowed us to get used to the new ToonBoom layout which proves a lot easier than the previous edition once you get used to it. All the tools and tabs are displayed very clearly and should help when it comes to creating future animations on the software. Most of the tools are the same as the previous edition but helped to remind us about certain things such as the "Onion Skin" tool which proves extremely helpful for inbetweening keyframes as required in the running man cycle.

Having used ToonBoom quite frequently in the past, I felt I could demonstrate just some short animations which I've already created in the past which demonstrate a lot of the tools which can be used within the programme. The first two were for previous projects in other classes while the others were just created in my own time.

Animation Planning and Application: Week 1

Week 1 of Animation Planning and Application was really just to give us an idea of what the class would entail and what we would be required to do in the coming weeks. Within the lecture we were made to think about the elements which make a good 2D Animation in groups and list the general rules of a 2D animation in order. This was then compared to other groups.

Lab work consisted of creating this online blog which will be used in the weeks to come to allow us to reflect upon what was learned within the classes and to allow us to demonstrate certain ideas such as storylines and characters which we may want to use further down the line. Sketches will also be posted as well as Character Development This may prove beneficial in terms of our final animatic assessment due in week 12.

Other techniques which will be important for the animatic task include classic animation principles such as Timing which is essential in any good animation. Everything within the Animation/Animatic will rely on good timing (ie. The timing of a character movement.) The Squash and Stretch technique may also prove useful along with things such as Easing In and Out, Exaggeration, Staging and Anticipation. All these elements will no doubt be used in the forthcoming exercises to aid us in our final project.

Other Lab work in week 1 included the creation of an online "Flip Book Maker." This exercise was to further the understanding of persistence of vision and allowed us to create some examples such as a ship sailing on water on the Flip Book Website.