Month: March 2024

Pixar Animation Studios is a pioneer company in innovative animation. Its work is known for its use of advanced technology and for bringing inanimate objects to life. Pixar was founded in 1986. Founders such as Steve Jobs and John Lasseter transformed it from a company selling computer hardware into an animation production company. It was they who ushered in a new world where art and technology complemented each other.

Early Pixar animation works were mainly experimental computer animation, such as “Luxo Jr.” (1986). In order to survive and be known, they also produced commercials for their clients. These works not only showed the infinite possibilities of computer-generated imagery (CGI) but also introduced the audience of the time to this new type of animation.

The collaboration between Pixar and Disney in the early 1990s was a pivotal moment that led to the creation of Toy Story (1995), the world’s first full-length CGI film. The film is one of the most important works in the history of animation. Not only did it gross $370 million at the box office, but it also helped to build the audience for Pixar’s later animations. Pixar continued to produce successful animated films such as “Monsters, Inc.” (2001), “Finding Nemo” (2003), and “The Incredibles” (2004).

Throughout such processes, Pixar stays true to its purpose of innovating and exploring everything. They use advanced technology to depict interesting stories. Their love of animated films has led them to break the “second product syndrome” and win accolades such as the Academy Award.

In 2006, Disney acquired Pixar, combining Pixar’s creative storytelling and technical innovation with Disney’s rich animation heritage. This partnership has enabled Pixar to continue to produce films beloved by children and adults alike, exploring complex themes of identity, family and belonging with humor and sincerity.

Today, Pixar is a milestone in the history of animation. Pixar’s movies are more than just entertainment; they are cultural touchstones that resonate with audiences around the world. They are the ones who wrote the story of how technology and animation complement each other.

Pixar’s Official Website: https://www.pixar.com/ • Offers details on Pixar’s filmography, company history, and news.

The Walt Disney Company: https://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com/
• Provides information on Disney’s acquisition of Pixar and their collaborative projects.

Books:
• “Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration” by Ed Catmull, a co-founder of Pixar, provides insider insights into Pixar’s creative process and management philosophy.

Documentaries:
• “The Pixar Story” (2007), directed by Leslie Iwerks, offers a documentary perspective on the history of the studio.

Bouncing Characters (Week2-4)

As bouncing ball is the first practice I did in TV Paint. I find online tutorials and practiced before I start my bouncing character. I also started to read the book, The Animator’s Survival Kit, which helps me a lot in the following practice. 6^th October

After got reference from online video and the book, I started my experiment. 9^th October

Finally, I am quite happy with the whole movement, then I added some meatballs beside the main character. At first, the meatballs were not work well as the main one. After presented it to Ko before Charismas break, I adjusted them. They are all good now! 16^th October-10^th December

Character Lift, push or pull (Week5)

I took reference video of all the three movement. I tried to draw both lift and pull and decided to do the lift. 23^th October

Character Design (Week5)

Mood change walk (Week8)

In the lecture, Pat mentioned contact pose, down, passing pose and up, etc. this is how walking cycle works. I did different walking animation in MAYA for experiment. And asked Pat to act my character for reference video. 21^st November

Quadruped walk (Week10)

I tried horse walking in 3D and dog walking in 2D. 28^th November

I tried to use the contact and passing pose l learnt. I found they work on the animal walking as well! 1^st December

Silent Movie – Body acting (Week12-14)

I did my first test after shooting reference video. Then I realize the facial and body acting in animation are quite tricky to preset well. They must extremely exaggerate. 20^th January

My first thought is the chef using knife, sword and shaver. However, this story cannot let the audience realize that he is trying to shave his beard. Then I change it to shaver come to the first. 28^th February

Lip Synch (Week15)

The movement of this is hard to catch. It has complex movements and uneven timing. At first, this really annoying me. 8^th February

During the research, I found start with a rough character and draw the movement line out could help me. 15^th February

Reflection

During the unit 1 practice, my drawing skills and software skills have been improved to different degrees. I also have a deeper understanding of the steps of animation production. I am quite satisfied with the final product. I tried different methods, steps and software to create it. Constantly revising and asking my tutor and classmates for their advice has improved my work a lot. However, I still feel that some parts of my work could have been better, for example, I could have added more details. Due to time constraints, some of the exercises could have done with more frames. In the coming future, I would like to learn more about animation and refine my skills. In the next project I can do better and have more time to perfect the animation and character details.

In this project, I worked with Ivana Koemdzhieva on her 3D model. My task is to build a 3D model of a gym. We had a meeting on campus on 19^th February. We talked about the theme of the project and my task. Then I started my work. Most of the time we are in touch via email. I send out models and she give me feedback. We changed the model few times until we are happy with it. The whole experience last 15 days and I really enjoy it.

By doing this, I learnt a lot that I can never get from my own project. Collaborating with student from year two not only help me to know about what I need to do in the final project but also can have a general understanding of the components of a large project. This collaboration also helped me discover that working with others gets the job done faster and much better. A rational division of work through different areas in which each person specializes will make the work much more efficient. We can check each other’s work and give each other our own advice during the production process. In this way, we can look at our own work from different perspectives and find problems that we may not have seen. Of course, all this needs to be based on good communication. During this time, I also realized how important it is to communicate frequently and efficiently with the people I work with.

Besides that, I learnt from working with Ivana that good work requires self-reflection and adding details over and over again. Trying to do your best in every possible way is the way to produce good work.

I also took a summary and self-reflection at the end of the work. What I think I did well in this work is that I did very thorough research and experimentation. This was one of the main reasons why my subsequent work went well. I also used my newly learnt software, MAYA. This not only reinforced my modelling skills but also enabled me to learn new techniques. However, as a beginner, I am not yet proficient enough in the use of this software. Therefore, the final model can only be roughly shaped without much detail. In the next time, I hope to learn more about maya, including modelling and even rendering.