Final Animation!!

YUS! I didn't think I'd actually finish today! i'm so stoked!!
After many weeks of frustration on Maya, here is my final animation. There's lots of things I could've fixed up on, like how his arms are shiny xD But the time limit didn't allow me too.
Overall, i really like it :D
Thanks everyone for your help!!

Start of lighting

Chucked a spotlight in and straight away I rendered the frame.
I might use this for when he gets caught and hold it only few seconds.
FREEZE!
DROP THE SPOON AND BACK AWAY FROM THE BENCH

Smooth Animating

WOOTWOOT My smooth animating is complete!
I added a few things such as a blink in shot 2 and delayed the left foot when he's slipping. Looks better with more stuff going on :)

3D Animation at it's finest

Accidentally turned the lighting on while I was smooth animating. Bit of a shocker. Oops.
The lighting isn't finished! Just had to add some lights so I could see my character when previously rendering.

Stage Blocking

YUS Stage Blocking complete! The lil breathing attack he has wasn't planned, but I rendered it so many times that it caused him to have a breathing spazz xD I kinda like the effect it has on his reaction to the knife coming towards him :D
I don't really like the last 2 shots that much >.< But this is just stage blocking, when I fully animate it, it'll come out SPOT ON

Lulz

So I started my final shot with the chef in the scene annnnd I rotated him just so I could have his arms up and in the shot (even though this is in persp view) and this happened.

Stage Blocking Awkwardness

The ik rig for the right arm is difficult to animate with >.< I'm pre positive that I didn't weight paint it well enough annnnnd now I wish I spent more time on it. I had to change my original pose to something like this, but even the right arm can't keep up with the more exaggerated state of the left arm.
I'll probably drop the symmetrical nature of the pose and have both arms doing different things.
Cool bananas.

First shot complete for stage blocking

FYEAH first shot complete with the much needed help from Taylor!! (thank you so much!!!) featuring a gnarly environment :D If I have time ..which is hella unlikely, I'll add more pots and pans n shizz.

Fancy Chef for Stage Blocking

Because Maya hates me and vice versa, the weight painting on the pinky for some unknown reason stuffed up. SO NOW the fat chef is a hella fancy and has his pinky sticking out whilst holding the spoon.

NOPE

I hate skinning

Skinning

On about Wednesday, I thought I was doing ok and was up to date UNTIL one hand's finger rolls were lost. When I tried again, the constraints weren't working properly, so I duplicated the hand over and re-orientated the ctrls to the finger joints AGAIN. Then I sorted out the finger rolls ONLY TO FIND that the ik rig for the right arm was out of whack SO I had to redo that. THEN the joints for said arm flew off in the other blooming direction.
Thanks to Michael and Keat's help, my ctrls are all good and working properly!
NOW I CAN FINALLY START SKINNING.
for goodness sake.
Due tomorrow.
FML.

Adding Eyelids

Keat suggested adding eyelids to my character as a squashed eyeball wouldn't look like he's blinking.
Just need to duplicate the first eyelid over!

Controls and IK Rigging

So I keep forgetting to blog stuff...
I completed my joints last week. The fingers were frustrating because the axis' weren't following through a lot of the time. BUT I finally have an understanding of joints. At least I think I do :P
Started putting controls on this week and I've got the steps on lock now. I've been checking the rotation and it's all going swell!
Today I gave IK rigging a go on the left leg and arm. AND IT WORKS!
All is going pre good so far :)

Now for the fingers D:

Cleaning Up

Naming and cleaning up the outliner to rig!

UV Character Process

UV on the leg & shoe of my character. I will go back & make the shoe texture a bit darker as it looks almost the same shade as the leg/pants. I'll also paint it a bit, but I don't have my tablet with me today.

UV Prop Process

I think I finally understand UV! Today I put a wood texture on the handle of my knife & the entirety of the spoon. I really like the outcome!

3D Props Coloured

Jpegs of my props; spoon, knife & hat textured

3D Character Turn Arounds

I finally finished the turn arounds for my props & character. I suck at 3D, so this was quite a challenge for me & is also why it is being posted a day late. I really wish I caught on to Maya quicker, else this would've been up sooner :(

3D Modelling Process

Some screen shots of my process so far with my character.
I've had tons of help from Ethan, Taylor & Keat because 3D is still quite difficult for me to grasp, but I'm getting there!!

3D Modelling Props

PROPS! A knife and a spoon.
The knife for multiple knives that will be thrown at the Fat Chef. The Fat Chef will be holding a spoon at the beginning of the sequence and a few spoons may be thrown at the character as well .

Final Story Board

Just added the timing in. It's roughly 20 seconds long, which the final product will definitely not be. Just a little estimate of how some parts of the scene will go. Timing is prone to changing in animation!

First Attempt Storyboard

 

Prop

Environment Research: Kitchen

Again, my inspiration comes from Disney's Ratatouille. The warm colours in the kitchen create a warm environment that I want to aim for. Even though a setting is optional, I'd really like to include one to made my animation look better. -This is all if I have time in the end though!

Model Sheet

I still don't have a name for my character! I like 'Fat Chef' ...

Keat suggested that I show the volume on either the front or back of the hat to show it's proportions & shape more clearly. This helped me get a better sense of the 3 dimensionality of the clothing/ prop.

Shadow Colour Concepts

I chucked some cool and warm shadows on the characters shirt & hat. I imagine the kitchen to be warm, with things such as the stove on and warm colours in general for the kitchen setting. It depends on the lighting & colours in the environment.

Texture Swatches

I like the idea of multiple materials used to form the kitchen setting. Clothes are pretty standard.

Colour Swatches

I like 1 as your ordinary chef uniform shirt and hat is normally white. This is also the initial colour concept I originally thought of, even though here I explored with different colours, 1 is the most appealing to me. I like 4 & 5 also, but 4 reminds me of someone that works on a train or cleans chimneys with such a dark uniform. 5 is interesting, but the colours are all quite similar & nothing really stands out.
I asked my mum which one she liked & she just said 1 & walked away. Was good enough for me.

Expressions

My character is a very humble person and is rather emotional (especially if it involves food). Getting angry is very rare for him & he smiles a lot.

Poses

These are some poses to figure out what my characters costume is like, being a chef uniform like shirts with buttons & aprons. Also experimenting what kind of person he is through his actions like sneaking up to the cake to eat it. 

Props: Hats & Knives

Character Concepts: Head Concepts

Genre Research

Poses Reference