Storyboard

This storyboard shows the basic flow of the 30 second cartoon.

Scene 1 shows a little alien kid bouncing a ball against a wall. Sounds in this scene will be general wildlife (birds etc) and the sound of a ball bouncing and hitting a wall.

Scene 2 will start when the ball bounces over the wall. When this happens, the kid will look down at his feet and sigh. I will be using noises rather then actual words for this 30 clip because of the lack of time and because I was inspired my the long running children TV show Pingu where all communication in the show is down with random noises rather then words.

Scene 3 will consist of the kid knocking on Mr Johnson's house because the ball landed in his garden. The sounds in this scene will consist of background noises (birds etc) and the knocking on a door.

In scene 4, Mr Johnson will open the door and look angrily at the kid. The kid will have to look up at Mr Johnson because he is so talk, as he does so the little kids eyes (on storks) Start to shake as he gets scared. After some more noises from the kid and grunts from mister Johnson (which is them talking, and is hopefully obvious that the kid is asking for his ball back.) Mr Johnson shuts the door. After a couple of seconds he comes back with the ball in his hand. and gives it to the kid.

Scene 5 happens when the camera spins around and looks at the kid as he thanks Mr Johnson. But then Mr Johnson's arm quickly comes out and he pops the ball with his spiky fingers. The Kid looks down at the ball and starts to cry

Scene 6 starts when the camera spins back around to show Mr Johnson laughing at the little kid. Then he slams his door shut and the scene ends with the little alien kid crying over his popped ball.

First charctor sketch

This simple sketch was to help me with what type of eyes to go with and other features of my character, for example clawed hands are threatening and add a feel of power to many evil villeins but what type of claws, should they be just pointed fingers, retractable claws like a tiger or a lion or should the fingers themselves be blades.

This first sketch show basic ideas for shapes of eyes, whether they should be on storks or just on a face ( if they are on storks it will be easier to get the eyes to look down on people but it also makes it look a little bit nicer in my opinion then if its just on a head.)

The mouth is also interesting, I like the idea of a big mouth that is almost as wide as the head. I think shark teeth are a nice touch since it looks like the mouth can easily eat you, but i think it might be a bit much for a children villein.

Tutorial one - Eyes

The first tutorial was to create cartoon eyes and use a FFD box to manipulate them. To create the eyes we started off sphere, then sliced it in half to get and eye lid. Then we created a copy of the half sphere and rotated it around to create the bottom eye lid, then it was simply a matter of creating a slightly smaller sphere inside the eye lids and crop out a small pupal. then adding a material that will make they eye white and the pupal black.

By then attaching the eye to a FFD box to the eye I am able top manipulate the eyes shape is a way which will help express emotions though the eyes. This technique will come in very hand when making my characters.

Evaluation

All in all I am rather disappointed with myself for the video. Quite a lot went wrong when I was making this small animation. It took me 3 weeks just to skin the model and another 2 to find out how to animate the CAT tool.

If I had time I would spend a lot more of my time on lip sinking with the sounds, as well as add a lot more background sound into the animation. There are long periods of silence in it at the moment and it is a little bit boring.

I would also want to spend more time on the effects. Even though the render is in hi def, the video quality is still very disappointing.

Completed renderd video

This is the completed video. It was Rendered in Hi def and then put into Premiere Pro to be edited and have sound attached to the appropriate scene.  

Animating the Characters

The first scene consists of the child (victim) head butting a ball over the wall. to set up this scene I needed to create a plane on the floor. A box for the pavement and another box for the wall. These where all then given the appropriate texture. The sky behind the wall was created simply my applying a sky tile texture to a plane.
 During the animation, a ball bounces to the wall, then back to the child. then the child headers it over the wall and leans over in disappointment.



The next scene has the child knocking on the door of the bad guy. when the door opens the eyes of the child vibrate to show he is scared. While he is shaking, he asks the bad guy if he gane get his ball back. The bad guy replys and then closes the door. A few seconds later he reopens the door with the ball in his hand and gives it to the child.

The camera pans around to show the ball with the child. The bad guy's hand then comes in and pops the ball. the camera

The camera the npans back to the bad guy who larphs out loud, his eyes close and the leans back in a laughing fit, he then slams the door and the camera pans back to the child.

The child looks at his feet and crys, this will end the 35 second animated clip.

Set up before animating using the CAT tool

CAT systems are a little bit more difficalt to animate then simple bones tools and similar bone structures. To animate with CAT you first need to add a new animation layer to the CAT system mosion modifyer

This is the CAT tool motion modifyer. In order to animate you firast hav e to add a new animation layer by pressing the ABs button, then you press the play button. Only know will you be able to use key frames and both AUTO KEY and SET KEY to animate a model that is useing the CAT tool.