Thesis and FMP Presentation

Regarding my thesis, the subject I want to research is analysis different styles of game animations. About My FMP, I want to do a series of multiple gameplay animations.

Why this topic/project?

Firstly,The theme of this thesis was inspired by several game companies interviews I participated in. When HR asked about my understanding of different styles of game actions, I couldn’t give a professional answer.

And The main reason is my enthusiasm and interest in the game industry. I have always wanted to work in this industry and become a game action designer. Therefore, I must have a deeper understanding of the  pipeline of the game action so I need more practice and academic research, most importantly, I need to have more related works to show my ability to complete my portfolio. Because the portfolio is the key to entering the industry, and doing game animation-related projects is conducive to my future career planning and development direction.

What to explore?

Thesis section

We all know that the styles of game actions are diverse. For example, God of War from SONY studio and Street Fighter from Capcom,they are completely different in their creativity in game styles, especially actions. At present, the game actions can be roughly divided into two types: realistic animation and cartoon animation.

Realistic animation such as AAA games such as God of War, Sekiro:Shadows Die Twice, and Death Stranding emphasize the reality of character movement, and the timing and weapon weight is more inclined to the real world. At the same time they also rely more on motion capture. And cartoon game animations such as Mario, overwatch, LOL, pay more attention to the curve of the character’s movement to ensure the smoothness and appreciation of the action.

What is more ,In addition to different games, rendering technology also emphatically affects the style of the game. Nowadays, the popular Cel-shading technology (such as Borderlands, Genshin Impact) is also an important factor leading to different game animation styles.

We know,Traditional animations are based on the 12 principles of animation, but for game animations, there will be a little bit different. In games, animators and developers always have their own set of animation principles in their minds.

Jonathan cooper mentioned the five fundamentals of video game animation in his book——game anim: video game animation explained.

These five basic elements (feel,fluidity,context,elegance,readability)have varying degrees of impact on game animation, creating different types of game animation styles on the market today.

Anyway, there are more details waiting for me to explore.

Therefore, I will use Jonathan’s book as an important research material and apply it to my papers and projects.

Video game animation is still relatively new,   and evolving all the time. I believe this is a amazing topic worth studying!

FMP section

I will focus on making a series of gameplay animations, including but not limited to different characters (such as warriors, assassins, magicians, monsters, etc.) stylised walking, running, jumping, body mechanics, combo attack, performance and death animation.

My temporary idea is to let different characters play independently, but it is also possible to add a short fighting scene.

In addition to game animation, I will also learn about modeling, rigging and skinning. These are the basic skills necessary to enter the game industry.

Resources

The thesis part, as I mentioned, will refer to Jonathan Cooper’s game anim: video game animation explained book and some video resources or lectures on the Internet. Many game industry experts and senior game players will also share their experience. These are also worth learning from.

In the animation part, I will use three aspects as my reference—— real people actions video reference, specific tutorials, excellent animation from good games and senior animators showreel. Among them, I feel that the tutorial is the most efficient way to learn. It shows in details step by step, allowing me to learn more practical knowledge.

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Gameplay Animation Week6: Appear Animation

In this week, what I want to do is to animate the appearance of characters(assassin).

I still follow the tutorial made by Tecent senior animator.(https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1aE411Z7tU?p=25)

The basic concept of this animation is to throw a hidden weapon (shuuri) from standing to backflip, then landing and rotating, returning to the initial pose.

Initial pose
anticipation pose
anticipation pose 2

I adjust the range and position of her jump through the arc of motion.

Through Luke’s feedback, I focused on adjusting her pose when she fell, to make it natural and in line with the law of human movement.

fall pose

Touch the ground.

turn around.

turn around refinement.

landing key pose
landing pose refinement
This is the final version after I added the camera and rendered
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Collaboration Week 5 Character Design

The part I am responsible for this week is the character concept design.

At first, my idea was a cartoon version of Frankenstein, with reference to the characters in Animal Crossing in terms of proportions. Because I have played this game, this cute, tiny of character is very suitable for walking and interacting in the scene.

At the same time, I hope to add some high-tech elements, so I found similar glasses as a reference
Reference of Frankenstein

version 1

This is my first version of the character idea, the ratio of the two heads, the sloppy hairstyle and high-tech glasses.

After communicating with Kay, the person in charge of the character model, she felt that the style of our entire scene and props is very realistic, so this too cartoon image does not match the tone of the scene. I think it makes sense, so I plan to redesign a version of the character that is more realistic style.

This is a reference provided to me by Kay, a high school student wearing a biochemical suit. I think this is very cool.

So I immediately searched for some references related to biochemical suits.

version 2

Version two front
Version two back
Reference for back equipment

After the adjustment of subsequent work tasks, the task of character modeling was handed over to Crystal. She hopes that I can modify the normal proportions into a style she is good at.

Hair reference

version 3

version 3— I adjusted the proportions, simplified the design, and removed some complicated details.

character modeling by Crystal

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Gameplay Animation week5: combo attack refinement

First of all, thanks for Luke’s feedback, which made me realize many mistakes and how to fix them.

some actions are very unreasonable Because there is no real people action as a reference.

Before strike, I need to have a clear Anticipation (animation 12 principles).

I raised the character’s left foot and changed (lefter and former)the position of its center of gravity to make her movements more reasonable.
Anticipation before strike,make her like more push off
When she comes in for a strike, the arm doesn’t sign up, it should be much more by charging jab like this.
It should be ensured that the movement curve of the sword end point is a smooth curve for perfect animation.

Secondly, I need to adjust the position of the foot so that it does not show inexplicable jitter and slip.

Adjustment of the right foot(Spin)
left foot
The overall forward rhythm should be slow in slow out(12 principles of animation)
landing feet pose

In the aniamtion, I added anticipation and buffering to make the movement of the character more reasonable and beautiful.

This is the version I added the camera movement and rendering.

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Gamepaly Animation Week4: combo attack

This week I made the most challenging part of my project: combo attack animation.

There is a basic formula for character combos—straighten attack+reverse attack+along attack+ jump…(I don’t know if the translation is accurate)

for example, this is a good case of that formula

I use a tutorial to help me learn and complete the combo animation.(https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1aE411Z7tU?p=4)

my reference

The assassin in the tutorial moves very quickly, and the subsequent combos are also very complicated, I don’t plan to do this. Because my role is more warrior, I hope to reflect the timing and weight.

basic pose
straighten attack pose
reverse attack

along attack
attack blocking
This is the part where I added the jump
I add landing pose

the jump and flip in the air part is bad and very tricky to adjust,so I tried to change the way of jump.

This is my jump shot after modification, it looks better
For this pose, I refer to SHORYUKEN
盘点经典街机游戏中的各种升龙,属于一个时代的回忆
SHORYUKEN
This is a rendered version with hair and clothes added.

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Collaboration Week 4 Room Design Integration

I put together the design results of the previous few weeks.

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Collaboration Week 3&4 Room Design

My main task this week is the design of the room. There are three parts in this space, namely the bedroom, the study room and the laboratory. I will record my reference and creation process in this blog.

Bedroom design

I want to create a recessed room with a three-dimensional structure.

these are my reference.
Through the window, you can see the scenery of the city outside, and there are lights coming in.

Laboratory design

reference…

Studyroom design

3D design by Yu.

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Gameplay Animation Week3: Idle animation refinement

According to Luke’s feedback, the first thing I should deal with is the overlapping problems of the head (neck) part.

When the body comes down, the head movement should be going up.
When the body is up, the head falls with it (if I understand it correctly).
So I adjust the head movement (graphic editor) like this:

Then I found that the twisting amplitude of the whole body was too large and needed to be slowed down.
Adjust the rotate xyz of the waist

The curve of the chest
rotate x of the waist
rotate yy of the waist
rotate z of the waist

After adjusting the curve, the character formed a Diagonal circle, but I found her moving very weird…

Next, adjust the frame by frame.

Adjust the trajectory of waist xyz respectively to make the (curve) movement smooth

Next is the optimization of the elbow and wrist. Obviously, their movement range is too large to reduce the curvature.

This is my final optimized effect:

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Gameplay Animation Week2 Idle animation

Breathing/idle Animation is one of the necessary animations in the game. When the player does not operate the character, idle animation is often needed to reflect the vitality of the character. What I want to make this week is idle animation. The following are some interpretations of idle animation and the idle animation reference of the game I found before I started production.

I found a simple tutorial on Youtube to help me make idle animation.

The tutorial carefully explained in detail the overlapping of the character’s head, chest, and waist when breathing, and made good use of the graphic editor.

From T pose to main pose
hips

The above video is the process I recorded in the production stage, from a single hips overlapping to hips&chest overlapping to the overall overlapping include spine, arms, wrists, and head.

tips: set core animation &core Rx need offset back 6 frames.

By analogy, when dealing with the neck, head, and chest overlapping, I should also move back a few (2-3) frames appropriately, just like the FOX tail animation from term 1.

When I finished the breathing animation of the characters, I still felt very monotonous, so I wanted to add some character-rich actions on the basis of this idle animation, such as raising hands and kicking.

I have found an excellent tutorial through Bilibili(a famous web in China like YouTube)and tried to follow the steps.

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1aE411Z7tU?p=19

The action is basically like this.

Below are some key poses I made

Finally, I combine idle animation and kick animation.

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collaboration week 2 Overall layout design

To summarize the key points of last week, isometric format, high-tech science fiction themed room, Frankenstein protagonist, laboratory equipment…
Based on these clues, I collected reference pictures, searched a lot of works, and finally set the visual style on the following pictures

This is my main reference object. I want to set the entire room into a two-story building. The first floor is the protagonist’s work area, and the second floor is the living area, which includes the bedroom and the study room.
Regarding the design of the bedroom, I hope to make it into a recessed pattern, and what people can see through the window is a colorful light city.
Concept of experiment bottle
In his work area, I hope to have a high-tech hospital bed like this to show the profession of the character.
study area reference

Combining the above elements, I quickly drew a sketch of the house.

This is the effect after coloring and refinement

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