Alex Martin: May 2022

Reflective Statement

At the beginning of my Major project I there was a fair amount of work to do, as my characters took me longer than I had planned to model. I knew that rigging was not an area I had much experience with, however I wanted to make sure that I spent as much time as I could so that I could improve my skill in the area as well as getting the best out of my models. Looking back, I think that I would not have created a rig for my third character as I ended up cutting her from most of my shots. I think that this also gave me very little time to animate and therefore the quality of my animation was not to the best of my ability. I had to cut some scenes and environments that were in my original animatic, as well as my music. I think as I found the rigging stage difficult it did slow down my work speed, however, I managed to work on other aspects of my short in between. As a whole I don't think I was able to show the best of my animation.

I feel that if I had left myself more time to animate, the quality of my 2D effects would have also been greatly improved. The effects were fairly last minute and with more time I feel that the overall look of the animations would have fit with my computer animated pieces better. The overall piece lacked some lighting and rendering effects I had hopped to add, however, the basic lighting fit well with my block colour shading. My narrative had to be cut short because of time constraints, and whilst some of the set up is lost, I believe that the story still comes across.

Although I had multiple thing I would change about this project and it's outcome, I feel that I have learned a lot from the process and have a much better understanding of the cg pipeline as a whole. From a positive perspective, I feel that I was able to keep the look that I had originally designed and produce it in a 3D space. My sets are similar to my original designs achieved through hard surface modelling, lighting and texturing. I think that I have been able to use this project to improve areas that I have not necessarily been able to focus on in previous projects. From an aesthetic and style point of view, I think I have been able to show of my skills. My sets were all intentionally basic to act as a frame for my characters as these are the main focus of the piece. I think this project has improved my confidence not only in 3D software, but in my ability to create my own characters and narratives. I had a clear concept in my head and I think I was able to achieve a good outcome. Overall, there are things I would change about my final short (and hope to improve in the near future), I am happy with the piece I have produced and I think that I have worked hard to create a piece I am proud of.

Over the past three years of this course I think I have struggled with my confidence in my skills and ability. I think that the pandemic did have an effect on my progress and just overall work mentality - not being around other people in a studio like environment to get feedback. My short represents anxiety and lack of self confidence, and although I will continue to have struggle with this myself I think that this process has really helped mem to see things from a different angle and help me grow as a person.

Links

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2022/02/major-background-effects.html

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2022/02/major-characters.html

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2022/03/major-sets.html

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2022/03/major-characters-update.html

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2022/04/major-characters-facial-rigging-skinning.html

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2022/04/major-sets-02.html

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2022/04/major-progress.html

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2022/04/major-violet-walk-cycle.html

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2022/04/major-still-render-test.html

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2022/04/major-animation.html

https://alexomartin.blogspot.com/2022/04/major-playblast.html