Final thoughts and reflection

The animation is now complete, and as such, I thought that it would be a good idea to reflect upon how the project went for me.
First of all, I need to mention the vast amount that I have learnt this semester. Having used 3Ds Max last semester for the first time, I had no idea how I would tackle this project, particularly having no idea how to create a character. As the weeks went on, I learnt so much, and I was able to create my character. Having spent many hours on this assignment, I am please with how my character turned out. The tutorials that Jo presented were extremely beneficial and help me so much. Next was the animation segment. Again, my experience with animation was virtually non-existent other than the animation I did last semester. This was overcome primarily by spending many hours setting and playing around with key frames and animating the body and props step by step as I went along.

As with any project there are things that worked well, and some things that did not seem to go quite to plan. The character that I created looks realistic, and the way that he has been animated is very life-like, especially the way he takes off his glasses, lays down the cards and contemplates what cards to lay down. I am a little disappointed that I could not animate his facial expressions. This could not be done because of the way that the head was skinned to the bone when it already had various other modifiers applied. However, I knew this from the beginning and that is why I decided to concentrate solely on the body animation and movements. Although there is some crimping in the mesh of the character shirt, it is far better than it was originally, and it is now minimal. I could remove this completely in the newer version of 3Ds Max, where there is a rotation modifier that would allow me to rotate the arm without altering the mesh. My main aim throughout this project was to match my character as close as possible to the original footage that I took of friends playing cards. I feel that I have managed this well, especially down to certain details like pushing his glasses up his nose, tapping his fingers on his mouth and wiggling his middle and index finger whilst he contemplates what card to lay. I am also pleased with the post production, where I have managed to use the camera angles effectively and the music that I chose suits the mood of the animation, I feel.

there were many sections that I struggled with. Creating the mesh was very time consuming and difficult to model so that it looked like the characters clothing. The toughest part was skinning the mesh onto the bones. I spent hours increasing and decreasing the strength of vertices so that the mesh only pulled where it was necessary. I am pleased with the amount of detail that I have used and how I have been so specific with the modelling and animation. The glasses were created with great detail, as were the props, bow tie and hands. Having looked at other 3D animations on youtube of poker games, I feel that my animation is equivalent to them and am proud of the work that I have created, particularly as this was my first attempt. I have enjoyed this module and found that by putting in lots of hours, it is possible to achieve good results from my work. Despite some difficult areas where I struggled, I have manged to create an animation that I am proud. I shall certainly try and create some more character animations in the near future as I found this very enjoyable.

Animation explained

Now that my animation is complete and the video has been created, I thought that it would be a good idea to create a short commentary on it to explain what the character is doing and what he may be thinking.

Firstly, I chose a piece of music called 'Moten Swing' by Oscar Peterson. This is a lounge jazz track which seemed to suit the mood of the video.
It starts with a pan of the area where three players are playing cards.
As Maverick leans forward to pick up the cards, his glasses fall down his nose. This idea was obtained from my original film that I made a friend who had the same problem of glasses falling down his nose. He then pushes them back up.
Trying to bluff the other players, he risks all of his chips, hoping that his opponents will fold. Getting slightly edgy, he takes off his glasses to try to concentrate more. As he taps his two fingers around the mouth area, he discretely looks to his left to see what his opponents face looks like. Wiggling his fingers now, this idea was again taken from the original video that I took of friends playing cards. After he has laid his chosen card and the other players have laid their cards, he realises that he is not going to win. (Starts shaking his head).
In anger, he throws down his cards and pushes his glasses off of the table.
The final shot is of Maverick exclaiming that he could never have won with the poor hand that he was dealt. He shakes his head in disappointment and disgrace, whilst holding out his hand to show that he is annoyed with the cards he had.

This week's animation

Below shows the animation that I have created so far. There are still many additional elements that need to be added yet.



Again, there are still the inevitable problems which I have encountered. Perhaps it is me just being too accurate with it, but I like to make the final animation as exact as possible. The cards are still not picked up as they should be. I think that I will have to leave this as it is because many failed hours have been spent trying to sort this out. Because I have used a head that I created with many polygons and because it has been skinned to the bones that I created, for some reason I am unable to animate the face to make the character smile or close it's eyes. As such, I have decided to focus more on the body language of the character which I obtianed from the original video footage that I took, ensuring mannerisms and personalities were captured. The poker tiles now look more realistic when they are pushed forward, and one of the red one's falls off of the top of the pile. I am pleased with the way that I have got the character to contemplate his next move and they way that I have moved his fingers to show this. I am also very pleased with the way that my character throws his card down.
Overall, I am pleased with my animation, and am proud of what I have created. There are always going to be some problems with it as it requires so many key frames and there is so much going on during every second of the animation. I feel now that the hours that I have put into creating this animation are finally paying off.