Mel Wiki

I know this post doesn't really deal with Electric Fur specifically, but while searching to see if maya can load textures from a location from the set project and not a specific location I found a really good Mel wiki site.

http://mayamel.tiddlyspot.com/

Also the Maya links are pretty useful as well.

(And if you are bored check out the non-Maya links as well, some of them are really cool.)

Andy Shelf

Ok, made the shelf for the Andy Rig. I tried to find all the hidden controllers, but I might have missed some. It's on the server in the Andy_Rig folder, called "shelf_Andy_Ref.mel".

5/21

This weekend:

Get playblasts on server BY NOON FRIDAY

      Use the same naming convention all have so they can be replaced easily

Strong blocking - move away from the basic; strong poses where they should be

      Remove your in-betweens after you get the poses and work on animation to get breakdowns

Work on breakdowns farther

Goals for June 2

Through Breakdowns on every shot; one shot per person should be in curves.

Come in Friday if you want more insight

      Bill will be in 

Erica: UV Mapping

      (thinking fennec fox)

Tati: Finish AE with what we have; 

Grant: House window; Tactigon game movie & assets for Beau/Nick

Damon: work on scenes

Nick: add to room props

Beau: Explosion for Sc9; basic indoor lighting; Ben's clothes

(Beau & Ruben - meet Monday for lighting work)

Ruben: finish Camera (mount); make post-explosion yard; neighborhood - try solid plane for sky dome; basic outdoor lighting

Notes from Playblasts

Sc1

  Sh1 

      No motion tracking? On the first sweep, Ben is already in the gate walking

      Revert to the Cam1 to transition to Sh2 - ends with Ben going under the sight of the camera

  Sh2

      Consider Ben grabbing the camera to adjust it down

      If Ben does tap/interact with the cam, the ShotCam should reflect that

  Sh3

      Change in POV transition is perhaps too great  =>180 rule

      Try camera looking more

      Slight dolly in (first 20-30 frames)

      Ben comes in from off-screen

      Transition - end a bit closer to screen right

  Sh4

      Transition - start closer to the window

      Longer interaction with control box

      Camera comes in closer to focus more on the door

Sc2

  Sh1

      Camera should be a bit closer to eye-height

Sc3

    Sh1

      Tree moved closer to house

      Watch out for the line connecting Squeak's nose to the trap to the house

    Sh2

      Move in even closer - this shot is about the map more than Squeak

    Sh3

Sc4

    Sh1

      Camera - great angles with desk, etc

      We don't want the shelf to intersect with Ben's head.

      More engagement with Ben's face - cheat it with him facing the camera a bit more

      Perhaps camera slightly more to the right?

Sc5

  Sh1

      Camera could be moved in, and a little to the left; left edge can be kept where it is

      Transition - rotate more towards the box

  Sh2

      Transition - rotate a bit more towards the box

      Not too much of a butt shot

      More of a crouch - rather than the 90 degree sit; remember he needs leverage to pull the cord out

      Have him crouched at an angle to face the camera

      

Sc6

  Sh1

      Lying on the back to open the window is a bit exaggerated, just a basic lift will suffice

      Transition>

  Sh2

      Transition>  End with Ben rotated to face the box a bit more; Squeak sneaks off to the left

  Sh3

      Head facing the camera when he crouches

      When lifting himself up, have him favor the left arm to grab the top, and the right arm pushing off the side or the ground, so as to not cover the face, and make the silhouette more interesting

  Sc4

      Add in so we can see how it looks

  Sc5

      Transition> Squeak jumps off Ben

  Sc6

      The final arc as Ben falls should be added in to see how it looks - do we want a clean fall, or a skid - leg catching the roof and sliding. 

Sc7

  Sh1

      Parallelism - use the same camera as Sc4Sh1 - it shows Squeak at the comp, and the window for Ben

      Squeak may not start in the chair, but jumps into it later

      Think about Ben rotating as he's hanging, starts the scene

  Sh2

      Camera on the other side of Squeak, and probably closer in - Squeak will get new hi-score in this scene, and we want to see it

  Sh3

      Ben enters through window - he is freaking out a bit, but gets 

Sc8

  Sh1

      Transition> Ben should enter from screen right

      Camera angle a bit more to the left to see towards the window a slight bit more

      Transition> End with Squeak jumping towards the top of shot

  Sh2

      Transition> Squeak will be ending the jump and has to rotate; Ben should be leaning over the chair

      *Redo this scene from scratch so the blocking is blocking, not smooth and awkward

Sc10

      Use the start of the previous, so there isn't the rotation

      Transition to higher position to show all of Squeak

      Switch 1/3 with ben

      Slower pull out initially

SET NOTES

  Yard

      Back Tree - *Has been moved

      Traps have been added to back

      We need the neighborhood

      Post 

  Room

      Shelf near window could be moved more to the right (Sh4Sc1 has it intersecting with Ben's head - we don't want that)

      Dormer window aspect should be reflected in the construction of the room - add in the short extension that leads 

  House

      Needs windows; door on left to open; basic start of hallway (end of Sc1Sh4 will have door open and show a slight bit

      Ruben will add camera prop to house

  Roof

      Needs cable

5/19

In between frame adjustment:

http://justinanimator.com/mel-tweenMachine.php

This allows you to adjust the weighting of the 

For Playblasts:

Use the Custom Setting of 640 x 480

Save them in the Animatic folder of the project. "Blocked Scenes"  is the folder, with the appropriate date

**Use the Resolution Gate to be sure what will be rendered

View>Camera Settings>

Setting for should be set to "Fill"

Remember to turn off the Res Gate

Inside Display Options to 1 rather than 1.3

For Thurs

  Make changes

  New playblasts of same size

    >>Hide the layers of controls, etc

Blocking notes/suggestions

Remember to have 3 - 5 main poses only for blocking

Sc1Sh3 - give greater sense of the danger for traps - get near, look at/nearly touch the spikes; refer to images below for walking path, the scene starts and ends with some walking

Sc1Sh4 - 4 main blocking poses (steps, control panel, doorknob, entry)

Sc2Sh1 - 

Sc3Sh1 - cam higher, farther back (don't cut off the fence); make sure to show some sky

Sc3Sh2 - be on other side (180 rule); more over the shoulder/closer to the  

Sc3Sh3 - slight compression in timing can be done; move cam in a bit closer than it is now to start frame nearer, try the dolly follow when Squeak jumps

Sc5Sh1 - separate head from roof when coming up (a little jump?), quick look around before passing control box

Sc6Sh2 - loosen up Squeak's body, so it's less static; give camera more of a diagonal to make the scene more dynamic; Ben will be to the left of the dormer

Sc8Sh1 - at frame 60ish... already at the chair - Ben enraged;  contact by end of scene, start jumping up toward computer at end

Sc8Sh2 - start with the landing/twisting

Sc10Sh1 - Squeak landed on branch, is sprawled, falls from it as it pulls out; start with camera lower; create set of destruction - opening of scene looks normal

Cable should run up and around the dormer (roof shots)

**dolly - move camera; zoom - change the lens**

Character Descriptions for Editing

Ben
Full Name: Benjamin Johnson
Description: Ben is a boy whose game play is interrupted by a power outage.

Physical Description
Age: 13
Hair: brown
Eyes: brown
Distinguishing Features: freckles
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 103 lbs

Motivation
Goal: Ben wants to be the best at Tactigon 2000.
Plan: He plays Tactigon 2000 any chance he gets, including when his parents think he's asleep or doing homework.

Character Background
Family: Ben is the only child of Steve and Rachael Johnson. Steve is an accountant for a large IT company, and is often out of town on business. Rachael works as a part-time librarian, is active in PTA, and volunteers time for after-school programs for elementary kids. Steve and Rachael's busy schedules often leave Ben home alone, which is just fine by Ben.

Education: Ben attends middle school, where he usually receives mediocre grades. He's never failed a class, but usually puts in just enough effort to pass and no more.

Habits/Vices: Avid gamer, collects anything and everything related to Tactigon 2000, obsessed with Tacticon 2000, he has posters, miniatures/action figures, t-shirts, underwear, and even their name-brand cereal.

Personality: Ben has a somewhat reclusive nature in real life. He'll talk to people, but rarely starts the conversations. Ben's real love is Tactigon 2000, which he will discuss avidly with anyone who will listen (or even pretend to listen). Ben is active in several online discussion boards and fan clubs centered around Tactigon 2000.

Likes: Tactigon 2000, video games, Mountain Dew, pizza,

Dislikes: Math (unless it relates to figuring out the best stats for Tactigon 2000), vegetables, cola, pizza with veggies,

Movement Analysis
Energy Level: High, excited, animated, sudden, as long as Tactigon 2000 is involved. Slow and depressed otherwise. Somewhat clumsy.
Emotional Temperament: Excitable, overzealous, and obsessive about Tactigon 2000.
Power Center: Somewhere between his hands and his head.
Body Tension: Tension in shoulders and neck from so much time hunched over computer.
Weight of Character: light and quick
Physical Disability:
Attitude:
Before-> Ben has just come home from school has been playing Tactigon for 4 hours (since he got home from school), and is finally almost to the highest ranking in Tactigon 2000. Ben plans to achieve the highest ranking today.
Current Mood: Ben is unspeakably excited.


********************************

Squeak
Full Name: Squeak
Description: Squeak is a raccoon-like critter who unplugs the power line to Ben's house.

Physical Description
Age: 3
Hair: reddish gray
Eyes: brown
Distinguishing Features: big ears, prominent teeth
Height: 2'6"
Weight: 40 lbs

Motivation
Goal: Squeak wants to play Tactigon 2000.
Plan: Squeak plans to unplug the power to Ben's house, in order to sneak in and play Tactigon 2000.

Character Background
Family: Squeak was born to fairly normal critter parents, whose primary goal was to find food. Squeak's parents were not supportive of his interest in human entertainment, calling them "uninteresting" and "a waste of time". As soon as he was able, Squeak set out to find his own fortune, and eventually arrived in the neighborhood where Ben lives.

Education: Squeak can open a trash-can with a locking lid in under 3 seconds. He's also very dexterous with his paws.

Habits/Vices: Compulsive collector of junk.

Personality: Squeak is a devious little critter, and will go to great lengths to get what he wants. Once set on a plan, Squeak will pursue his goal with single-minded focus. Squeak is also very curious, and is fascinated by tv and video games. Squeak spends much of his time studying humans, and is very knowledgeable about human behavior. He uses this knowledge to manipulate people so he can achieve his current goal.

Likes: cheese, shiny objects, sugar, human-watching

Dislikes: rat poison, people who leave their trash-cans inside, lawn mowers, corn on the cob

Movement Analysis
Energy Level: high, like a coffee-drinking squirrel
Emotional Temperament: wired, quick, short-viewed, but obsessive and focused on a goal
Power Center: creature of the heart
Body Tension: nervous wreak
Weight of Character: small and quick
Physical Disability:
Attitude:
Before-> Squeak has been planning and trying to get in to play Tactigon 2000 for quite some time. Today, he's finally ready to make his move.watching Ben play Tactigon 2000 for 4 hours. He is fascinated by the moving characters, and the boys apparent ability to control them.
Current Mood: Obsessive, interested, goal driven.

***********************

Tactigon 2000

Tactigon 2000 is a science fiction fighting game where player can battle opponents with a variety of weapons, armor, and special moves. Before each match, the player selects the armor, weapons, and special moves based on the options currently available to them and who their opponent is. Some gear/moves are available to any character, and others are restricted to specific characters or are unique to one character. Each battle results in ranking points, which can be spent to purchase new/better armor, weapons, and special moves. The game features many types of weapons and armor styles, including: guns, swords (of various plausibility), thrown weapons, bows/crossbows, sticks, and various others.

5/14

Use Insert Key or hold down 'D' to move pivots

Squeak Rig Overview (Thanks Erica)

Click on the + controls to switch between FK/IK

In the attributes: 10 all IK, 0 is FK

Don't be afraid to select multiple parts of the back to rotate at the same time, it will be smoother.

Remember, we're going for how it will look from the shot, not a perfect physical replica.

Forearm grasping: use IK, and then pull vector for elbows

**Remember there are multiple ways to accomplish things

PC: 

DocumentsAndSettings\name\MyDocuments\maya\2009\prefs\shelves

Mac:

user/Library/Preferences/Autodesk/maya/200x/prefs/shelves

Decisions/Tasks

To Do

Damon: work with UV mapping

Beau: work on mapping for Ben & Squeak

Grant: House - door, hallway, control box;

Ruben: Yard - lighting; back yard tree; Camera

Erica: look into Rig tweaks; texturing - room/house; learn particle system in maya (Beau has tutorials)

Nick: work on Room - materials

Tati: look into the particle systems for the explosion

Looking ahead

Materials - simple - lambert & blinn; remember to name them

Lighting - 

2 main lighting rigs: 1 for yard/outdoors; 1 for room/indoors

Tactigon: Grant is working on the images - send to Tati

Map: Beau will build the prop

perhaps use photo of our projected map to map the map (oh yes, that's worded correctly)

For Tuesday

Blocking: Complete

New playblasts

Break-downs: As much as possible

visuals; pass on to Tati

Planning Reference

Squeak Pics

Some quick screenshots from my blocking with Squeak.

Sitting position, note the stifles (knees...kinda) are turned out, the hocks are turned in, and the feet are splayed a bit.


Sitting from the side


Leaping


Standing

Rig Concerns

Hey all,

This post is mostly pertaining to rigging issues.  I don't know how much y'all have played with Squeak yet, so please comment if you have anything it add, or if you have some workarounds for any of the problems I had.

First of all, great job on the Squeak rig so far, Erica.  I know this is a work in progress, so I'd just like to share a few issues I ran into when messing around a bit.  My main concerns were with the shoulders and the haunches.

When in a slightly crouched position his shoulders appear to be too low, positioned almost on the belly.  I realize this is where the leg geometry actually meets the torso on the mesh that Beau and I provided, and it is probably difficult to work with. We were trying to give Squeaks chest some volume to make up for the lack of dynamic fur.

I think the problem is that there is an extra bone.  I believe the circled joint above should be removed and combined into one bone perhaps, or maybe aligned like the twisting bones in the forearm.

Notice that in this position the shoulders seem appropriate, when the two bones I mention above are nearly straight.  If they were combined they would look more or less like this no matter the orientation (minus the weight map adjustment).

My other concern is similar, but with the pelvis.  When close to his neutral position, the hind legs look great and move realistically.  However, approaching the sitting position some problems arise.  It seems like the hip joint needs to be raised a bit, positioned more closely to what would be the anatomical hip joint (roughly where the move manipulator arrows are sitting above).

The problem is that it is impossible to get is butt any closer to the ground without the ankles or knees going crazy.  I know this is an extreme position compared to Squeak's neutral stance, but I think it might be necessary for many of his poses and actions in the film.

Here's a more illustrative shot of what i'm talking about.  The knees tend to buckle in and the bottoms of the feet are pretty stubborn about staying flat.

Anyways, I don't want to seem like I don't appreciate the rig, just wanted to point out a few bugs.  I'm sure I have a lot to learn about character modelling.  Everything else is moving great.  I especially love the ears and cheeks!

For Next Time

Everyone:

BY THURSDAY

*block the scenes (3 - 5 poses); work on camera settings

*playblast rendering of the blocking so we can put together an animatic to get an idea of what's going on

THIS WEEKEND

*Texturing/Materials

=Make lambert materials initially

=Consider what needs maps

*Lighting

Grant: add RPG to house; add control box

Ruben: finish Sc1Sh1 so it can transition to Sh2; add camera; finish back yard tree

Tactigon Screen

THURSDAY

*Assemble the animatic; assess the state of things

*Squeak overview

*Make decisions for the work ahead

5/12

Eyes and Faces

Eyebrow, Eye, and Mouth determines about 90% of what's going on with the face

Eye Direction

use of eye target - think about what looks right from the camera, rather than the literal, virtual physicality (setting the eye target on a table when the character is looking at the table)

Floating Iris - leaving white space isn't as significant as having the eye all the way to the side; having the iris "floating" lacks the sense of stability

Moving target farther out can make the target look wall-eyed, whereas too close gives the cross-eyed look

Don't go too exaggerated, as it will look like a caricature of a ___ person, rather than a ___ person

Blinks

Suggestion for default blink:

Fr 1 & 6 - 0% shut; Fr2 - 20%Shut; Fr3 & 4 - 100% shut; Fr 5 - 80% shut

There are many forms of blinks, differing in duration, the amount of eyebrow/cheek motion involved, etc.

Blinking occurs: when changing focus (far to near, etc); head turning (blink occurs about 1/3 of the way through

Eye brow shapes

Mouth shape can have a great influence

 

Genuine expression comes through more in the eyes, but that doesn't mean the rest isn't important.

Think about Polar Express - the eye/eye direction/forehead doesn't seem to get much successful attention

Speaking

Work on jaws first - think Muppets

Sites

http://www.blifaloo.com/info/lies_eyes.php

http://panvilla.com/expressions.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/smiles

Scene Modifications/Notes

Scene Modifications/Notes

Sh1Sc1

Use Shot_Cam () (from bottom left)

Show Gate opening on the first sweep.  Take first steps at the end of the scene, walking off camera.

Animate through the end so we are cutting on the action

ShSc1 & ShSc2 will be sharing the same file.

Sc1Sh3

Stand up at end and start walking

Sc1Sh4

Start from behind the camera.

Sc2S1

Room

Sc3

Erica: Attempt to make Squeak jump over traps

Ruben: Duplicate the bottom left tree in yard to allow Squeak access 

Sc5

Squeak Rig

(Whether in FK or IK mode, currently both controls will display )

In FK mode: use + controls

In IK mode: use the circular IK controls

Progress

How's everyone doing with the blocking?

Grant, how is the house? Do you have a newer, scaled one we can utilize? Please name items and use layers to keep the house in if possible.

Improved Squeak Rig

Improved Squeak rig on the server, now with twist joints in the front legs (to allow for better rotation of the hands). Also, I made a shelf for Squeak, and put this on the server in the Squeak folder as well. The Squeak2 shelf is probably the one you want to use, as this one works with the way we've referenced Squeak into the scenes.

Scaling Sets

Looks like the yard has been scaled (and the room I think, tho it's not in any of my current shots), but not the house. When is the house going to be scaled properly and updated on the server? I think I can do blocking on some of my shots without the properly scaled house, but not the one that requires the roof.

Squeak Rig

Ok, updated Squeak rig is on the server. It should be pretty good, but might need some tweaking depending on how crazy you get with it. Let me know if anything doesn't work right...and take a screenshot or save off the maya file so I can see it. No guarantees I can fix it, but I'm still interested in seeing what happens.

Edit: The tail, spine, and eyebrows all have the ability to switch between FK and IK/splines. They default to FK, so if you want to change to splines: click on the blue "+" near what you want to change to IK (I tried to place these intelligently), change the attribute FKIKBlend to "10", and then the control attributes for FK to off (or 0) and the IK control attribute to on (or 1).

5/7

Looking ahead:

1. Scale everything (Done in class)

2. Finalize models/rigs (over the weekend - post to blog if you make updates; try to have new files in Friday by 3:00 on the server for everyone to pull up)

3. Blocking (over the weekend)

4. Materials and Mapping

5. Cameras and First round of lighting

6. Schedule and task reassignment