Week 5 Editing and Animating

After having a group discussion we broke up a few more tasks for each of the group members. The first thing I needed to do was to go back to the library and kitchen and make the objects in there much bigger. After making everything bigger the whole room felt far too cramped so I decided to make the computer table much smaller and some of the book shelves smaller. I also deleted some of the bookshelves to create more space in the library.

For the kitchen everything just needed to be a little bigger and the fridge a little taller.

I then moved on the floor design mapping out each of the group members animation path. Each section has a start and cut off point, each cut off point is in a position that is easy to continue a camera path from a different group member. For example Michael rotates the camera around the guildhall then zooms into the entrance of the guildhall cutting off in front of the shop door. The shop door is where Troy will pick up the animation path. This allows each of us to work on a portion of the animation at the same time. We can then import all of the animation paths and cameras into one file and then tweak the points between each of the separate animations allowing them to run much smoother.

My path is from the library door to the guildhall door after visiting kitchen via the guildhall.

The first part of my animation will just involve the camera entering the library and moving along a path round the library then back to the door. The camera will then move along the glazed walkway slightly and then stopping in front of the stair case leading up to the guildhall.

To start create a camera and create a path for the camera using the line tool. In the animation drop down bar select path constraints and attach the camera to the path. The camera will now move along this path. Using the auto key function move the target of the camera so that each part of the room is closely viewed as the camera moves along the path.

At the start of the animation set the pivot point on the door to the side, then in auto key rotate the door so that it moves out the way of the camera. This gives the illusion that the door is on a set of hinges.

Move the points of the path around if need be and extend the time frame of the animation to make the animation longer. This has been set to 800 frames which is roughly 25 seconds.

The points of the path need to be moved a little so that the camera doesn’t go through the wall.

The next part of the animation is moving the camera up the stairs. This can be done by creating a new camera and placing it in the exact same position as the other camera, then moving it up the stairs along a timeline. It is very hard to create a path for the camera as it is moving up the stairs, so this is done free – hand. This part of the animation lasts 300 frames which is about 10 seconds long and ends in front of the guildhall door. The next part of the animation will start where this one ended.

The next part of the animation starts off where the last ended, in front of door leading into the guildhall.

The animation will start with the door opening into the guildhall with the camera following a path leading to the back of the guildhall where the kitchen is located. The door to the landing then opens as the camera passes through where the camera then turns towards the kitchen door. The kitchen door then opens and the camera goes inside, rotating around the room looking at all of the appliances.

The last part of the animation is from the kitchen moving back into the guildhall and facing the wall with the whiteboard on it. The animation starts from the same point the last animation stopped at so as to keep the flow of the animation together. The kitchen door opens again followed by the door leading into the guildhall. The camera then moves up to the ceiling looking at the beams, then down towards the wall and pausing. From here the projector starts playing some images and the curtains round off the animation. The curtains and projector have yet to be added to this part of the animation yet.

We have also decided to use a couple of bipeds to walk around the guildhall making the whole place feel less ghostly. This is will be done next week along with the lighting and the shadows and also the curtains for the end animation.