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.