5/2 Final……………………………

So I tried to edit the hair for the very last week which might’ve not been that good of an idea. I wanted to get rid of the “underwater look” and fix the back hair as well, but in that process I accidentally have the hair acting waaaay too bouncy. There was a lot of struggles with getting the right movements + the right shape + avoiding penetration. Also everything took forever to render. I might tweak a lil more in comp with the hair (ie especially the bounciness at the end), but it takes like 2 hours to render it out of After Effects so…Oh yeah I also tried to fix the lip animation to be more in sync but I’m blind at this point so I can’t tell. Oh and I also added some motion blur in After Effects I hope it looks better that way. basically hair sux 0/10 do not recommend

I’m too lazy to personally print out stills, but if we’re still required to have some images available, here’s some from my piece:

Final Update 4/23: Edited animation

Pass 3

I have a lot of problems with the hair here….at the end strands clip into his head. I’ll probably comp it out if I get the approval that this animation is good to go.

Final Update 4/18: New audio + touch ups

Big thanks to Mason for giving me a better audio recording!

So I’ve pretty much updated everything to what the final is really likely to look like:

Here’s some screencaps because again I don’t think the YouTube quality is on par with the actual video quality

I edited the animation to try to make his movements look more deliberate. I also fixed the lighting to be brighter so he can stand out more, as well as added a change in lighting segment for drama. I edited the brow shape which kind of created some weird protrusions so I’ll probably change that later. I changed the settings to a higher quality so the overall quality as well as the light affecting the hair should be improved.

I have the bottom hair laying more realistically than before, though it still moves too stiff. I’m a little hesitant editing that part at this point because if I were to make it more fluid I’m a bit afraid of getting the flickering that the main hair still has at the end. I edited down a lot of the flickering in comp, but it’s still there which sucks. edit: yay i think i edited down the flicker decently enough. there’s still some flicker-y areas but i’ll edit those parts on my last update. I guess I’ll likely still mess with the bottom hair if I don’t have much else to tweak on.

I’m also wondering if I should make his head move at the ending line. For one, I feel like some head movement might actually solve the flickering because I feel like the hair doesn’t flicker when he’s moving (I….have no idea how this system works yo). However, I did kind of intentionally leave it still because it’s supposed to indicate his acceptance of his “dead state”, and he’s supposed to be generally more nervous/stiff at that point.

I also added some effects in the background to fit the mood I’m going for.

Final Update 4/11: First complete animation + lighting pass

I have down my first set for basically everything (aside from my background)

So right now I’m planning on having this as the final render settings because it takes a decent amount of time to render with a quality that is okay to me. I can bump up the quality more if needed though.
edit: The quality is better in my video file than this youtube video…here’s a frame of the video quality

There’s some expressions that I’m not quite sure I want to go with, but an overall okay animation is done so far. I think I’ll be keeping the lighting as it is unless it needs to be changed.

I’ve lowered down the amount of flickering that happens in the hair, but it still does a significant amount at the end. The only solution I’ve read to fix this is to increase the hair count, or have it in motion which I have for the majority of the piece. I don’t want to increase the hair in the front, but I probably do want to dos so for the bottom hair + back hair though; I want to see if I can reassign it to a different hair system because for the top hair, I do want it to maintain the shape for the top hair, but it’s awkward for the bottom hair where it’s kind of floating and has obviously less strands. I hope I won’t screw up in the process…
edit: just edited the hair (tiny image is tiny). will add more volume but is more or less the idea

I’m okay with the textures I have so far, but I can always change with critique. So basically what I’ll be doing next week is tweaking everything, hopefully change at least one hair issue, and working on the final background. The final background will be pretty similar in terms of color scheme (especially with the clouds), but it will have more of an open space of French buildings and crowds more far away. I kind of want to do a small 2D fire/crowd animation so I’ll try to test that out as well. edit: orrr actually if I can kind of just keep the current background I have it and tweak it a little I would be okay with doing that too

Final 4/4 Update: Hair Test + Audio + Vizemes

I’ve mainly been working on hair and a little bit of texturing, as well as getting down the mouth movements in the storyboard to follow the audio (which I do have now) so I can start animating as soon as possible.

First of all, I did finish my tongue control and have some blend shapes + lattice/cluster for more solid nose deformations (though I don’t think I’ll be doing extreme deformations for this particular piece, but just in case).

Here’s my first real hair with some textures test (ignore the bad animation):

There’s still some flickering that I’ll try to fix by next week as well as penetration into the forehead in some parts, but overall I’m pretty okay with the general look.

Here’s my audio with my storyboarded vizemes:

I have a version with a background noise (that’s revolution-y sounding) that I would like to use, but I hope it isn’t distracting:

I have the general facial expressions I want to go for right now, but I will likely be editing them more when I really start the animation.

As for the general look I’m going for according to the storyboard, I would like to have Carton’s head lying on a dirt slope (probably not obscure is face as much as I am in the storyboard though), and I want to do the dirt slope in Maya. The background will be a matte painting that more or less should give the impression of the rioting in France during the French Revolution. I’ll work on all of this stuff when the character stuff is finalized.

By next week, I hope to fix the hair completely and get down the textures (+ some better lighting) and also do the dirt slope as well.

I’ll also try to run some rendering tests on the lab computers so I can have more high quality renders (edit: my file isn’t working properly there because I didn’t realize the lab computer didn’t have Maya 2016, so I’ll be on my computer. Currently it renders 2 minutes per frame for the master and the occlusion which are my heaviest passes. It might increase when I add the dirt slope, so I will try to minimize that as much as possible and of course start rendering earlier)

If my audio is good to go, I can also start on animation as well.

FINAL 2/28 Update: Model + Controls + Vague Idea-ing

I finished my final model and have most of my controls working. The things I still need to work on are the tongue control, hair, and more tweaking in general (especially with the mouth area). I used a combination of clusters, blend shapes, and joints for the head, jaw, and nose. Right now I have set driven keys which works for expressions like basic smiling and basic frowning, but I am still having some issues when getting into more complex and asymmetrical expressions.

I plan on remodeling the hair so I can have the edge flow follow how hair actually attaches to the head so I can create my nHair more easily. I’m leaning more towards using nHair over polygonal hair because I just want to learn how to use it in general, but I’ll take any advice if it doesn’t seem to mesh with the overall style I’m going with (which isn’t clear yet). Anyways, here’s a horrible hair test.

I tweaked the ending of the line to be more ambiguous so someone wouldn’t necessarily have to know the story the character is from to get the situation (which will be explained by the background, which I’ll explain later in this post). So now it’s “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times……I hope I’ve got something named in my memory at least.”

I don’t have an audio recording yet, but I do have a video where I set the dialogue I had from last time to some expressions that I would be going for if I were to use those lines. The timing isn’t accurate to anything right now, although the animation itself is currently 10 seconds.

I based of the expressions on some Milo Thatch character art:

As for the environment to give context to my character (who is supposed to be Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities, and the dialogue is supposed to reference the famous first lines of the book and Sydney internal monologue before his beheading), I was thinking of have a background like this:

like with French-y buildings and a guillotine (probably drawn), a blurry mass representing a crowd with simple movements (maybe some fire too), and possibly a (blurry) head flying overhead when Sydney trails off mid-sentence.

Next week I hope to have vastly improved hair, a tongue control, and a storyboard + an audio recording.

Final: Dialogue

My final facial model will be Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities.
I currently have a model, but I don’t really like the current design I have so I’m probably gonna have it redone by the next update.

Reference (for this temporary model):

He ended up looking way goofier than I anticipated when actually modeling so….
Reference I’ll probably base the new model off of (so far, still needs tweaking):

Model (the temporary model):

Super WIP of new model:

The prompt was (either) “What did you do with the body?” or “What is the last thing you remember”?
Answer: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” [looks up at guillotine and sighs] “…I hope I’ve got a kid named after me at least.”

I wanted to keep the answer kind of vague enough to be a valid answer for both of the prompts (so I can just stick with it), but I’ll take any feedback for a better answer (especially after the official prompt is finalized).

Lighting exercise

These are the references for the three facial postures I’m using: “happy”, “wary”, and “suave/model-esque posing”.

Happy

Wary

Suave/Model-esque posing

So the basic things I was shooting for in each pose was
For “happy”: High key lighting schemes, facial features are fully exposed and the shadows are more or less natural-looking.
For “wary”: Low key lighting schemes, lights that tell more of a “narrative” (aka light with more of a clear direction)
For “suave”: Studio portraiture-esque lighting, more light than shadow though still maintaining a medium amount of shadow to showcase form
I will also provide additional commentary on why I chose certain poses on each individual still.

Light high above viewpoint – Wary

Reason: Darkened eyesockets, more hollowed looking cheekbones give a more solemn feeling which fits the “wary” expression the best.

Light above viewpoint – Happy

Reason: Face is completely lit and the light is at a naturalistic position which helps aids the “happy” expression in looking like a genuine smile.

Light at viewpoint – Happy

Reason: High key with face few shadows which would emphasize a fuller expression like the “happy” posture.

Light below viewpoint – Wary

Reason: Air of mystery adds a narrative to the “wary” gaze, both lighting scheme and “wary” expression give a feeling of unease.

Light 45 degrees to the side and above – Suave

Reason: A pretty standard portrait photoshoot scheme that emphasizes the cheekbones/facial curvature and therefore the charisma of the face.

Light directly to the side – Wary

Reason: It was a debate between the “wary” and “suave” expression, but ultimately the “wary” expression won out because the brow, inner cheek, and inner eye shadows on the lit side aided the solemn feeling that the “wary” expression gives out.

Short lighting – Suave

Reason: Though there is a lot of shadow, a good amount of it is soft and flatters rather than obscure.

Butterfly lighting – Happy

Reason: High key with light that fits a fuller expression that the “happy” posture offers.

Broad Lighting – Wary

Reason: Half the face is in hard shadow which adds a more negative/cautionary tone.

Light on side, camera on side – Happy

Reason: High key, illuminates expression in a fittingly positive way.

Light on front, camera on side – Suave

Reason: Deep shadows that emphasize the curvature of the face while still keeping the expression visible and flattering.

Partial backlight – Wary

Reason: Darker look that adds interest in the direction of the light over flattering the face.

Silhouette profile – Happy

Reason: The most important aspect is the silhouette rather than any surface details, and the smiling curve of the “happy” posture is the most recognizable emotion out of the three postures. The lit background also helps in creating a more positive feeling that suits the smile.

Multiple source lighting – Suave

Reason: It was a debate between the “suave” and “happy”, but ultimately “suave” won out because the lighting set up is very much like a standard portrait photoshoot set up which would fit the more posed “suave” look.

“Happy” speech postures with clusters

My visual reference is mainly from the scene where Flynn Rider goes “Hi”. I wanted to capture the “H” and also use the beginning and end faces as the “neutral” poses. For the “P”, I decided to imitate infamous “smolder” (and so the “E” became a transition between that and the second neutral face). In retrospect these probably weren’t the best references to use since they’re kinda too exaggerated, but I don’t really have time to change it all so…

References + Stills:

neutral 1 ref

neutral 1 persp

neutral 1 front

neutral 1 side

(H)A ref

(H)A persp

(H)A front

(H)A side

P ref

P persp

P front

P side

E “ref” (is more of a transition pose)

E persp

E front

E side

neutral 2 ref

neutral 2 persp

neutral 2 front

neutral 2 side

So I mostly used the method where I had the clusters attached to the lattices that affect certain vertices just so I could manage the symmetry more easily. The lattices generally worked well except it screwed up when I started editing the model, so I had to completely redo the nose and mouth.

Obviously not everything is working properly (especially the mouth). These are pretty much the things on my priority list to fix the next time (and more can be added if I get more suggestions):
– The mouth
– The edge of the eyebrows
– The “mid brow” area
– Sides of nose crease (if it’s really blowing me off)

“Happy” speech postures with blendshapes

Final video (with all 3 views)

Video reference for the word “happy” (4:37)

Base model

base front

base persp

base side

A, P, EE, and neutral face respectively with their references (H is merely a transition from neutral to A, not its own model)

“A” ref

“A” front

“A” persp

“A” side

“P” ref

“P” front

“P” persp

“P” side

“EE” ref

“EE” front

“EE” persp

“EE” side

“neutral” ref

“neutral” front

“neutral” persp

“neutral” side