L.O: To be able to examine the purposes and techniques if 3D animation used in the media industry

3D animation is the rigging of a 3d model so that within a game it will function like a normal human being/animal would behave, e.g. movement, facial features/expressions, the way one object interacts with the other (Hit collisions). Progammes used can be Maya, Blender, etc.

This music video was made for the League of Legends World championship and uses 3d animation effectively. It not only portrays the game but also follows a depthy storyline showing players getting better and achieving the ability to go play this game in front of the entire world/community.

The main strengths of this 3D animation is the near to close exact animation that a human would have, this includes the running animations, the weaponry - how the character uses the weapon, does it affect their stance, how heavy is the weapon. Also, the hitboxes in the game are incredible, they are tracking the player's model and creating a near to exact representation for the game to use. However, due to the interactions between vehicles, latency and armor, the hitboxes may change and become unreliable, within the game when in a gunfight or a pan fight, the hit may not register for you due to the constant changing hitbox. 

The animation has several distinct characteristic, one of these are the vehicles. This game is one a kind due to the added vehicles that the character can interact with in the game. The vehicles allow dynamic gunfights, allow roadkills to occur and ease of travel from one area of the map to the next. However, due to a constant changing variable, this makes the hitbox really hard to track, and makes the immersion for some players worse but at the same time might improve immersion. 

The game targets itself at a mature audience, because they may show more appreciation for a fully working physics engine than one which you may see in games such as Call of Duty, Battlefield. In these games, the hitboxes aren't always perfect, they may be missing or may be the incorrect sizes. This could be due to the limitations that these games faces due to the multiple platforms that the games are played on, however PUBG is a single device game, which allows tweaking to occur more frequently and allows the developers to focus solely on the issues that most members of the community are facing.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds main/unique selling point is the gunfights/weaponry, the game features realistic recoil, sounds and hit registration. The weapons are affected by gravity, for example, if you were sniping someone from an extremely long distance, you couldn't just aim your crosshairs at them, you would have to calculate bullet drop and if the players pathing or movement would change. Due to all of these variables, the games engine has to calculate all of these micro calculations and may not register the bullets as a hit and this may sadden.

Starter:

Can you remember the names of the animators we looked at in our previous 33D animation lesson?

Ed Catmull created the first 3D animation and it was of a hand, it showed basic animation to current standards but we highly advanced, this influenced the film/media industry because it was used in many popular films such as Star Wars, E.T. and Indiana Jones. 

L.O: To explore the use of specific 3D animation tools in the creation of a specific media product -

Start of Lesson - Amber

End of the Lesson - Green

Trajectories and Animation Layers

Trajectories

What is it?

Trajectories are the path an object takes over time, this is useful when combining one object with a scene which contains other objects.

Lehmann’s Terms:

Displays the path an object travels over time

What programs can it be found in?

3DS Max, Maya, Blender, Unity, Unreal Engine

Have you been using it for any creation so far?

No, we have not been using it so far

Background on how you would begin to use it?

You would select the object you are working  with, select a starting point and a keyframe, then move it and change the keyframe and when the animation is played, the animation should move from point A to point B 

Animation Layers

What is it?

Animation layers hold animation in your scene, with each layer containing animation curves for attributes that have been assigned to it.

Lehmann’s terms:

They allow you to perform multiple animations at a single time in the same frame

What programs can it be found in?

Unity, Blender, Maya, 3DS Max, Unreal Engine

Have you been using it for any creation so far?

Yes we have both been using it to create a walking animation for our characters.

Background on how you would begin to use it?

You would need to select the joint/bone of the a single animation and it will create a animation layer for that bone. Then you could select a different bone and animate that and both bones will move. You usually want to layer animation when you need to add an offset to the main animation of an object.

Morphing

What is it?

Change smoothly from one image to another by small gradual steps using computer animation techniques.

Lehmann's terms:

It's when it slowly changes shape into something else. 

What programs can it be found in?

Daz 3D 

Have you been using it before in a creation so far?

No

Background on how you use it?

There's different types of morphing tools that you can use- Smoothing, Curves and edging, Merging faces

Particle System

What is it?

A particle system is a technique in game physics, motion graphics, and computer graphics that uses a large number of very small sprites, 3D models, or other graphic objects to simulate certain kinds of "fuzzy" phenomena, which are otherwise very hard to reproduce with conventional rendering techniques - usually highly.

Lehmann's Terms:

Lots of particles moving such as rain drops

What programs use it? 

Unity

Have you been using it before?

I have been using it to create fire effects for destroyed cars 

Background on how to use it? 

In a 3D game, most characters, props and scenery elements are represented as meshes, while a 2D game uses sprites for these purposes. Meshes and sprites are the ideal way to depict “solid” objects with a well-defined shape. There are other entities in games, however, that are fluid and intangible in nature and consequently difficult to portray using meshes or sprites. For effects like moving liquids, smoke, clouds, flames and magic spells, a different approach to graphics known as particle systems can be used to capture the inherent fluidity and energy. This section explains Unity’s particle systems and what they can be used for.

L.O: To be able to understand the development of animation since pre digital animators - Amber

Storyboard –

Scene 1 – The camera is close to the floor showing the mallet (used in Strongman's game) dripping blood and leaving a puddle on the ground beneath it. The camera pans upwards and slowly zooms out to show Main Characters shadow/back which is blacked and faded into the background. Main character will address the viewer by saying the following: “You Know… *exhales smoke from cigarette*, I wasn’t like this before. I used to be filled with laughter and joy. But when that thing hit, my life got flipped upside down and back to front.”

Scene 2 – The camera is pointed down at a picture which the main character is holding. It slowly zooms into the picture which then becomes reality and shows a panoramic view of the Circus before the meteor. Children will be laughing and animal noises will come from the Big Top. This scene slowly catches fire as main character burns the picture.

Scene 3 – Noises could be heard in the distance and Main Character slowly stands up and states: “Back to work I go *Character laughs*”. Camera begins fading to black and then you hear a head explode and a body drop to the floor.

Scene 4 – Camera flashes back up with a panoramic view of the current circus, it is in disrepair and parts are scattered everywhere.

Scene 5 – Camera zooms/moves towards the big top, and as it enters, something pounces on the camera with glowing eyes to give a jump scare.

Scene 6 – Title comes up showing “CLOWNING AROUND” “COMING SOON” and fades to black. Trailer ends