Ronnie Leah, BA (Hons) Computer Animation Arts, UCA Rochester.

 Today I watched the 1995 Japanese animation, Ghost In The Shell. The film is set in a 2029 Japan and follows the character Motoko Kusanagi an augmented-cybernetic human who works for the anti-cybercrime department, known as section 9. The anti crime unit is investigating a case which involves a mysterious entity known as the Puppet Master and they try to uncover their motive and person/s behind it.  The film opens with the audience hearing muffled bits of information before the camera pans down and presents the character. As the camera works its way closer to the character, the muffled voices become more clear. By doing this it establishes the most important part of the film, the character, before presenting information which hints at the purpose of this characters place in the world. The information is confusing to the audience as they are yet to find out what is going on in the world, much like the character herself, who is new to the case and is trying to unwind its mystery. As the

 Today I watch Paris 2054 Renaissance, the 2006 tech noir animated film. The film was recommended to me by my tutor in order to investigate how films depict the cyberpunk world in a location which differs to Japan, in this case France. It was also relevant as it deals with the idea of immortality, something I was interested in including within the narrative of my own animation.  I want to identify how the plot is presented, particularly in the introduction, in order to allow the audience to understand the characters place in the world. I also want to see how the cyberpunk genre is presented visually in the world and how this adds to the overall story. The immediate thing I noticed upon the beginning of the film was its sticking art style. The film depicts the would in a black and white cell shaded filter. This fits with its noir themes as well as making the world seem familiar but also different from our own. It gives the animation a very digital effect, which I think adds to the idea

Today I watched the 1988 Japanese Animated film Akira as suggested by my tutor, in order to research into the idea of incorporating an anime feel to my animation. Simon told me to look into Akira due to its high quality and fluid animations. It also featured fight scenes as well as an interesting world set in an alternative future, all of which I can use in order to develop my own project. The opening shot presents the viewer with an 1988 Japan. The world looks familiar until a bomb is dropped as a result of World War 3. The story instantly jumps 31 years into the future, where you can see how the people of Japan dealt with the fallout of the bomb. I like how this information is presented to the viewer in quick succession at the beginning of the film. This sets the scene as well as the overall tone of the film, as well as establishing it as a possible future to a world unlike our own. By using visual imagery as well as text to explain the events it manages to convey across so much info

 Today I talked with my GTA in order to see what they think of my idea: Story Idea Set in a future Japan. The world has become reliant on technology (cyberpunk) and uses it to enhance the human form. Japan has moved away from its traditional ways of living, however there is a tribe who stay loyal to their beliefs and have banished the use of technology from their village. As Japan is dealing with an overpopulation due to people living longer than they should from technology, it has started building in any available space. This means the once countryside, is now city, where the tribe residence. Their is a peace agreement between the two factions, as long as no one breaks any of the rules, the two live side by side. Their is rumour of a chip which will grant the user immorality. This would be the downfall of man as no one would ever die, in an already overpopulated world. A secret unit forms within the tribe, who go against the peace treaty to locate and destroy the chip. The plan is a s

 Below is the first drawing I did on returning to life drawing from the Christmas break. I found it hard to get back into the flow of drawing a live model at first. I feel like the drawing conveys this. I also found that I was trying to rush to the final product before having a solid grasp of the pose. This lead to a drawing which was out of proportion.  In order to warm up we completed a drawing exercise were the model changes pose every 1 minute. This exercise forces you to not worry about drawing in detail and instead focus on the important lines to build the silhouette.  Below is a five minuet drawing  After the break we completed another set of 1 minute drawings in order to warm up again.  In the drawing below I tried to no think about the final product and instead focus on making sure the direction of the lines were accurate. I found the pose hard to draw and so did not manage to make much progress when it came to shading, however I feel I built up a stronger foundation by drawin

 Today I had a meeting with my Tutor in order to see his thoughts about my idea for the project. I explained that I was interested in animating a fight scene between two characters, set in a Cyberpunk Japan.  After hearing about my idea Simon suggested that I: Look into Japanese culture Look at good quality Japanese animation such as Akira, Cowboy Bebop and Renaissance Establish a final narrative Explain world in as much detail as possible in order to paint a broad picture e.g travelogue from the 1st project Find cyberpunk world examples as influence Identify a suitable artstyle for the animation. Nothing that is too realistic but also fits the themes.  In order to help with the above information Simon also provided me with the links to video analysis of Japanese animation, as well as a good quality 3D animation which is based off of an anime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQUUcB3vbsw https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=akira+animationa+analysis https://www.artstation.com/?s

Today I followed along with my tutor as he rigged the character.  skinning rig Made a locator in the appropriate places and then made joint and snapped it. This was done across the leg and arm, ready to be mirrored. It is important to remember that you should not rotate joints with the world manipulator and should instead use the attribute editor. This is to ensure that the joint will move the right amount without the added rotation. 

 Premise What it is you’re seeking to put into pre-production and how you expect to produce it?  I want to create an animation which focuses on character design and movement. For this reason I have been investigating the idea of a gun/sword fight. This would take place between 2 or more people (however I'll probably stick with 2 in order to make sure I complete the project). I like this idea as it is full of action and allow me to focus on character design, world design, animation and camera movement. I want to create something which is visually appealing and stylish, which will allow me to focus on bringing a character to life. I also want to improve on my animation skills and so picked a fight scene as my theme as I want to investigate the human form in order to create fluid moving animation.  In addition to your individual proposals, you are required to research job roles, departments, and specialisms within computer animation and associated careers. I will need to investigate,

The final thing to model before bringing everything together was the hands. To begin I made a cube and modelled it into the shape of a finger by using edge loops to add additional geometry. I then moving the vertices to the appropriate areas, using the drawings as reference. After modelling one of the fingers I then had to make the hand for the fingers to connect to. This was done from a cube. After creating the block-out of the hand I could then connect the fingers to the model. This was a long process to get right however I was able to complete it to form a rough hand.  After making the four fingers, I then duplicated one of the fingers in order to make the thumb . I then had to place the thumb in the appropriate area before extruding out and attaching it to the model. After applying the thumb to the model, I spent a lot of time reshuffling the geometry to make sure it was modelled correctly. The final part was to connect the hand up with the arm using the glove bulge.  I am really h

 In todays video I learnt how to model the characters boots. This again was done by creating a cylinder and moving the vertices out to match the drawing. As the drawing's boots where facing outwards, the appropriate changes had to be made to ensure the boots were facing forward for the model in order to make rigging easier.  I liked how Alan left the section where you have to add additional geometry for me to figure out. It was nothing new however confirmed that I understood the process.  Everything seems to be coming together nicely and the character still resembles that of the drawing. 

 Today I continued with the video tutorials. This video was about making the characters legs, which was done from a cylinder. A lot of time was spent just making sure the trouser leg looked natural, as if being pulled down by gravity. I used the relax tool in order to achieve this effect. I also had to remember that the characters leg is inside of the trouser which helped when it came to the thickness of the model.  After creating the bottom half of the trouser, I then extruded up to create the rest of the leg.  I then made the belt at the top by moving the edges and extruding up and out. Finally I added the straps for the belt to sit in by creating a cube and manipulating its shape to match the drawing. 

Today I continued with the video tutorials which detailed how to make the character arms. The beginning of the video covers cleaning up the model so that it is ready for the arms to be extruded. This required the use of the relax tool as well as the slide edge tool, to reposition certain edges.  Once this was done I was able to move on to the arms, which was done by extruding out of the shoulder. I then had to add edge loops in order to section off the arm ready for skinning. Once this was done Alan explains how to use the relax tool in order to match the likeness of the drawn character. 

 Today I started following the tutorial for Jetpack Jones's body. This was made out of a cylinder which had to be extruded to fit the orthographs.  Once the basic torso had been blocked out, I then moved on to the characters chest and lower neck. For the chest the main part was to get the looping geometry, which leads into the arm. This was done by extruding out and then using the multi cut tool in order to get the desired shape.