Day 23 : Hw

1155 PM - 1215 AM

• Went onto moodle to check the final requirements and tried to put them into the server folder. I was able to get some of them in but I'm going to have to put them onto the hard drive
• There was one thing that I noticed which was that there was a cylinder relationship project and a morph project. My problem is that I have one project that is a morph relationship so I'll just have to discuss that in class.

Day 23 : Hw [B]

855 - 930 AM

• I started by opening up toy_animation_4.c4d but after trying different things I decided to reverse it and save to a new project file 
• In this project file I changed a few things but came to the conclusion that I REALLY don't want to do any significant changes to the animation that I had before and so I was going to try and salvage the original one that I had rendered out

930 - 1000 AM

• Rearranged the first keyframe
• Shrank the amount of frames used
• Changed position of head
• Made further changes to the positioning of the head in later keyframes

1000 - 1020 AM

• Setting up preview prior to render

Day 23 : Hw [A]

414 - 515 PM

• Added a target camera for no real reason other than maybe to add a close up tail flick
• Repositioned the bed so that the doll is leaning more against it
• Resized and repositioned the i block
• Moved the light
• Removed target cam (if I do decide to put in another camera it will be a regular one)
• I'm not quite sure what I did in order for this to happen but the bottom half of my mesh distorted. I was able to fix it by moving the whole object over and key-framing it, only problem I'm going to run into now is that it's going to move incorrectly through the animation
• It's proving to be a royal pain in my ass (to put it bluntly) to rework the animation (or keyframes) that I have so I'm going to create a new file where I trash all the animation and completely redo it. Any further reasoning behind it is that I'm fucking crazy.

515 - 600 PM

• Saved a new project file
• Cleared the timeline of all keyframes
• Reset the starting pose to something much like a sleeping position keyframed it

Day 23 : Class

1230 - 200 PM

• Posted mov file onto the server
• Had to make it editable to other users for it to be viewed on instructor's computer
• Watched and critiqued works
•  Suggestions made to my animation: switch start up position to the one in the end otherwise have it moving around in the beginning

200 - 235 PM

• Saved a new Project file called toy_animation_3.c4d
• Switched the start up position to the ending position
• This means that I'm going to have to change the time placement of the ear twitch as well as how it twitches
• Well in the mean time I'm also going to change the camera angle to something more dynamic as well as fix an existing problem which is how the doll actually isn't quite sitting on the floor, more like it's hovering
• For now I'm going to set up a preview to see what I have to work with now that I made a few changes and what I might be able to get away with.

Day 22 : Hw [B]

1216 - 132 AM

• Photoshopped texture and applied it to color and bump map
• I didn't it changed it with a few I already had
• I decided to go back to what I had before with the bump map at 300%
• Fixed the weighting so that the mesh isn't distorted
• Moved the necessary frames to appropriate placements
• Tested without preview
• Set to render

Day 22 : Hw [A]

520 - 600 PM

• Downloading and testing various textures and colors. I might go long with the fur texture I downloaded, but if i do then I'm going to have to figure out what color to change the material to

Day 22 : Class

1230 - 100 PM

• Saved project file as toy_animation.c4d
• Ran through the animation x2
• Wrote down the timing sequences for changes in the animation itself
• Ideas : Have head turn to the LEFT btw 920 F and 1000 F, Extend frame length from 1060 F to 1120 F with new frame at 1060 F to make it flop naturally

100 - 200 PM

• Looked into Toy Story animations for references on how to do the collapse into inanimate object from animate
• Figured out the frames that I needed to change around 898 F for head turn and three separate frames for the collapse 
• At frames 928, and 958 added movement
• At frames 1077, 1107, and 1137 frames were added with the the exception of 1137 where the original collapse occurs
• I then shrank the amount of time btw frames 958 and 1047 it now ends at frame 1098 with an additional 10 seconds of nothing happening
• I'm going to render it so that there are 15 seconds (450 frames) of nothing happening at the beginning rather than the approximate 21.6666666* seconds (650 frames) that I really don't need. Heck I may not even need that much time in front. I'll be able to tell once I add in the vocals in final cut.
• I'm having the program create a preview which I really need to see so that I can decide whether or not to render or continuing to edit it
• The preview isn't showing up so I'll just have to run a preview later at my house (since I believe that it means that it is going to take even longer to render)

200 - 245 PM

• Rendered a frame and found that I material wasn't showing up so I had to go back into the material and create a copy in this file for it to use, deleted the material attached and then rendered the frame again and it showed up
• Apparently the preview is running in the background (I went to try to set up a preview again and it gave me the option of stopping the one that was already in progress) I'm just going to have to wait until it finishes or until class ends whichever one comes first
• Playing with the kit material/textures

300 - 310 PM

• Looking at different ways to make the texture look better
• Maybe I'll scan in a fabric or some sort of material and use it for the bump and texture for the doll

Needs :

1. Correct segment of animation around the original frame 1047
2. Doll texture
3. Weighting 

Day 21 : Class

1230 - 100 PM :

• Posting to blog

101 - 300 PM

• Searching for fabric textures online
• Found one
• Put into photoshop and set a high contrast in black and white
• Inserted the file into the material
• It looked good, but it was applying the texture to the stitches which made it lose its effect
• Took material file and bump file into photoshop and erased the colored parts until satisfied with the results
• Set up a omni light source that may be too bright but will do for now
• Now putting a wooden texture to the bed frame and a cloth material to the bed mattress
• Fiddling around with textures on the bed frame and the floor
• I have come to a decision on the new floor texture but I'm still working on the bed frame texture
• Looked up wood texture > downloaded file
• Edited in photoshop to give it some color
• Applied to frame
• Changed camera angle
• Moved blanket
• Rotated K block

Day 20 : Hw [B]

11/20/10 Saturday

1220 - 1240 AM

• Set position
• Saved as bedroom2.c4d
• Scrapped the changes in bedroom2.c4d

145 - 245 AM

• bedroom1.c4d reopened
• Saved as bedroom1_1.c4d
• Fixing weighting to the best of my ability
• Reposition
• Starting to animate each joint and i-k chains
• Changed camera position

245 - 300 AM

• Planning out the timing to the animation
• Set to render
• It took 8 hours and 30 minutes to render a 40 second clip 1,200 frames later

416 PM

• Animation is complete

11/23/10 Tuesday

What Still Needs to be Done for Final:

1. Possibly get more folies, ambience, sounds, and voiceovers 
2. Compile sound files into Final Cut Pro
3. Compile Video files into Final Cut Pro
4. Edit the two together

Ideas for Tweaks:

1. Add a light
2. Add fabric texture
3. Correct the collapse at the end of the animation

Things Needed to set up for DVD:

1. Screen shots from each step of each project
2. Background music
3. Perhaps a commentary from myself
4. Video Screen shots (if possible)
5. Excerpts from my Animation blog
6. Compress files into folders 

Day 20 : Hw

1135 PM - 1210 AM

• Checked the rigging for Kit Kuros (testing the weighting on it)
• Saved a file called kit.c4d in folder 11_18
• Merged the file into bedroom.c4d which was then saved as bedroom1.c4d
• Tried to shrink the mesh AND the joints, I found that it does quite work that way so I'm either going to have to make everything in the setting much bigger OR redo the joints
• Changed the walls settings
• Decided to redo the rig on a smaller scale

1210 - 110 AM

• Shrunk Kitmodel1.c4d mesh
• Created new rigging
• Zeroing out all joints
• Saved
• New file
• Auto weighted
• Merged into bedroom2.c4d
• Weighting isn't doing what it's suppose to, I can move the skeleton around without the mesh even though I auto weighted it
• I weighted it again and I'm still getting the same thing to happen, maybe because its so small the weighting is very faint, if that's the case then remind me never to do it this way ever again

110 - 120 AM

• Okay, I played around with the weighting in the tail for a little bit
• Then I started fiddling with the tags when I realized that I didn't have a skin so I applied it (with albeit a bit of difficulty) problem was solved

125 - 153 AM

• Started setting into position for the scene

Day 20 : Class

100 - 335 PM

• Restarted the blocks as new files
• Final touches on the environment

Day 19 : Hw

330 - 440 PM

• Tried looking for free 3d Models: kid's bed, and building block
• Decided to make my own building blocks at least
• Created file call buildingblock.c4d
• Created cube primitive
• Did a inner extrude twice
• Taking Screen shots as I go on each step
• Finished each of the 6 faces (using extrude inner)
• Used body paint
• Thought that I had done three different blocks in body paint but I guess not 

445 -505 PM

• Set up a new file called bed.c4d
• Made a floor, mattress, and a bed frame

520 - 552 PM

• Set different textures to the floor and frame until content
• Changed structure of the bed a little

Day 19 : Class

1240 - 115 PM

• Demo for doing screen grabs and putting them into Final Cut Pro

115 - 135 PM

• Setting up for presentation

135 - 215 PM

• Taking screen shots from all files

216 - 230 PM

• Tried Setting up Environment

230 - 255 PM

• Presenting Retro Future WalkCycles
• Presentation

Day 18 : Hw

I'm going to use the character that I just made for the final project

220 - 303 PM

• Created body movement
• Created head bob
• Create tail twitch
• Created loop
• Set up render which ended at 303 PM
• Idea for the final project has been hovering around the doll being found and picked up by owner, thus it would be the toy hearing owner then seeing owner before the cam cuts off to insinuate that the toy has been picked up since there is now a vacant space there
• Will need a voiceover which I can provide and another character (whether or not I'm going to animate this character is another story, I'm currently debating it in my mind)

303 - 350 PM

Final Project

• Planning
• Scheduling
• Listing
• Fulfilling deadlines
• Storyboarding

Day 18 : Class

1240 - 105 PM

• Updating blog posts from last night

105 -130 PM

• Opened kit_cycle4.c4d deleted plane
• Saved
• Opened kit_cycle2.c4d
• Deleted light and plane
• Saved as kit_cyc.c4d
• Changed the weighting in the tail (disturbed them mesh)
• Moved tail joints 3-6 down for each frame
• Saved

140 - 242 PM

• Keyframe 2 (8): Set tail movement
• Keyframe 4 (22: Set tail movement
• Cleaned up weighting on Spine.base
• Cleaned up weighting on Spine.1
• Cleaned up weighting on Spine.2
• Cleaned up other areas

250 - 320 PM

• Fixed majority of the weighting
• Checked each of the Keyframes and keyed corrections (any errors in the mesh)
• Saved
• Tested the up/down body movement from what I can see all the polygons are accounted for

Hw/Goals (11/16)

1. Set the body to move at appropriate keyframes
2. Set head to bob at appropriate keyframes
3. Copy and paste loop 10x
4. Create feline tail twitch at the very end
5. Set up plans for Final Project + storyboard + scheduling

Day 17 : Hw [C]

11/8

930 - 1000 PM

• Went back to the file kit_wc.c4d
• Saved as kit_currection.c4d
• Cleaned up files on computer to help with loading time
• Zeroed out all the joints
• Zeroed out the I-K Chains
• Zeroed out directionals
• Tested the movement of the left leg (all the positions that caused problems)
• Tested right leg
• Tested both parts of the tail
• Tested whole right arm
• Tested whole left arm
• Saved file kit_cycle.c4d

1000 - 1142 PM

• Cleaned up the weighting in left.leg, & left.2
• Cleaned up the weighting in right.leg, & right.2
• Set right and left arms to relaxed position
• Final check > joints in both arms aren't zeroed out because they were rotated for the relaxed position > legs check out as being zeroed out
• Saved file as kit_cycle1.c4d
• Set keyframe 1 (1)
• Set keyframe 2 (8)
• Placed right leg joints & keyed together
• Placed left arm joints & keyed together
• Placed right arm joints & keyed together
• Saved
• Set keyframe 3 (16)
• Placed right leg joints & keyed together
• Placed left leg joints & keyed together
• Saved
• Set keyframe 4 (22)
• Placed left arm joints & keyed together
• Placed right arm joints & keyed together
• Saved
• Checked coordinates for the ankle joint and knee joint of the left side for the neutral position after having the leg bend backwards from the current position
• Compared bend in the knee joints, the checked the rotations. Neutral was zeroed out frame 4's wasn't
• Corrected rotation
• Keyed the rotated position on frame 4
• Saved
• Placed left leg joints & keyed together
• Saved
• Set keyframe 5 (30)
• Placed left leg joints & keyed together
• Placed right leg joints & keyed together
• Saved
• Added a light
• Increased size of the plane
• Changed the placement of the right leg joints to match the motion of the left leg joints
• Saved

1205 - 120 AM

• Added weighting to the spines (joints)
• Saved
• Weighted
• Saved file as kit_cycle3.c4d
• Went back to kit_cycle2.c4d
• Continued weighting
• Gave up on perfect weighting
• Moved the plane up and down instead
• Made a preview
• Tried moving tail but can't due to poor weighting 
• Rendered move file
• Created file kit_cycle4.c4d

Day 17 : Hw [B]

1040 - 1108 AM

• Made another attempt at fixing the joint and found that another joint is skewed as well, the joint  where the leg meets the torso is also twisted up just like the ankle
• Sent an email and tried uploading the file to moodle but it was too large I'll send the file in another email

Day 17 : Hw

11/5

1100 PM

• Opened up file on home computer and started weighting but it was moving too slow so I stopped

100 - 300 AM

• Worked on gathering information on presentation into a powerpoint through the program NeoOffice 
• Found clips and created a playlist for them on my youtube account

11/7

215 - 235 PM

• Completed weighting the model (though the program at the school was kind of lagging too)

256 - 353 PM

• Moving onto the walk cycle
• Correcting the weighting in the arms
• Setting the arms into relaxed position

643 - 734 PM

• I had to take a long break because I frustrated
• I got three frames animated after some serious problems
• Although I had set the joints to bend in a particular direction when I had to bend it it bend in the complete opposite direction just to spite me
• Then when I did fix it it tied up the ankle in a knot when I set up a key frame for the joint
• I fixed that by setting the joint to zero which reset it to what it was suppose to be then key-framed it then it skewed but I was able to toy with the ankle joint and keyframe it in the right position

751 - 800 PM

• I went to make another keyframe for the joints but it got (to put it bluntly) fucked up

800 PM

• I'm fucking done with this

Day 17 : Class

1241 - 151 PM
Goal: To complete the weighting to the joints as well as I-K Chains for Animating this weekend

• Placed Kit_weighted.c4d onto the desktop and will then transfer onto the hard drive and opened in c4d
• Going into more detail in the weighting process
• Saved file as Kit_weighted1.c4d
• Saved another file to explore again whether or not I could zero out the joints while having another tool open called Kit_weighted2.c4d
• I'm creating a new file and bending the joints slightly to an unweighted file and then putting I-K Chains in and finally weighting it again Kit_joints1.c4d
• I bent the joints
• I set up a tail of joints (since I want the tail to move a little bit when I animate him)
• I'm now setting up the I-K Chains
• I-K Chains are set up but I found that there was an unknown quirk that wasn't allowing me to zero out my joints before doing them. I have to zero them out in the Coordinates Box located at the bottom of the screen
• I'm going to keep the file with the I-K Chains that I just finished and zeroed out but for the sake of making things easier for when I have to animate I am going to go back and zero out the joints and then redo the I-K Chains and zero them out as well

150 - 250 PM

• Zeroed out ALL the joints (including roots)
• Bent the joints and adjusted them
• Rechecking to make sure that they are still zeroed out after the adjustments = they're unchanged
• Created I-K Chains
• Remembered that I needed the put joints in the tail on this file and put them in
• Zeroing these new joints out

Hw:

1. Complete I-Ks for tail (11/5)
2. Weighting (11/5)
3. Animating (11/7)
4. Storyboarding for Final Project (11/16)

Day 16 : Hw [A]

850 - 930 PM

• Worked on painting the body of them mesh

930 - 1000 PM : BREAK

1000 - 1025 PM

• Finished painting the mesh
• Created a new file called kit_rig.c4d

1041 - 1141

• This is really getting to be a real pain in the butt, I've set up one side but I can't seem to get the other side to mirror out right
• shoot me.

1141 - 1150 PM

• Okay, I've gotten the rigging down (I think)
• I've tried zeroing out the joints but it's completely distorting the joints so I reversed it and saved and then I'll create a new file called kit_rig1.c4d

1153 PM - 1230 AM

• I zeroed out all the points in kit_rig1.c4d and it came out distorted like it appeared that it would so I went back and am completely re-rigging this thing
• Having the same problem, if I zero out the joints then I'm going to screw up the structure so I'm just going to have to deal with the consequences later on down the road

Day 16 : Class

1250 - 103 PM

• I've found that I'm highly opposed the whole "waiting game" I've now moved the file onto the Working Volume and am working off that and I'm still getting the color wheel of death
• I'll wait a bit more but I think I'm just going to have to get to the rigging

(While I'm waiting I'm researching super heroes for my humanities paper revision)

109 - 150 PM

• Finally the damn program is letting me use the paint brush
• Okay never mind that I said, it IS NOT WORKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Went to an earlier project and somehow it worked on that one so I tried selecting the mesh for the kit_bodypaint.c4d and waited again until 141 and it still doesn't work.
• I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO ANYMORE, NONE, ZERO, ZIPPO, ZILCH!
• I'll try again but I can't think of what it is that is wrong with this file

230 - 300 PM

• Found a problem with the mesh which was a large hole in the polygons which I closed
• Following that I set up another body paint and it worked
• I saved it then saved a new file kit_bodypaint2.c4d where I did the painting

Day 15 : Hw

1150 AM - 1205 PM

• Opened The kit_nose.c4d file and tried to start doing body paint really quick but it isn't cooperating with me
• I did precisely what I'm suppose to do in order to be able to paint on the mesh but it takes forever to load and won't set up so that I can paint
• I'm going to go pick up my headphones so that I can do the tutorial without bothering anyone one class

Day 15 : Class

1230 - 120 PM

• Demonstration of UV mapping
• Demonstration of Body Paint w/ UV Mapping
• Body Paint to Photoshop
• Body Paint (3D Release 3.5) Tutorial (link is in moodle)
• Watched the first tutorial for Body Paint

127 - 215 PM

• Copying and placing the stitches for the arms and legs
• Attaching the stitches to body through the menu > object > connect + delete 
• Attaching stitches to button menu > object > connect + delete
• Attaching stitches to body menu > object > connect + delete
• Applied HyperNurbs
• Menu > Object > State to Object

215 - 235 PM

• Created a spiral with a single spline and Loft Nurbs, it came out in the shape that wanted but a little too flat to be stitched on fabric
• Blyth had another way to do what I wanted that goes as follows:

1. Draw out the spiral in the desired shape (A SINGLE LINE ONLY)
2. Take out (in this case) a 4-sided shape then drag the drawn spline into the Nurbs followed by the 4-sided spline
3. Result is that it is no longer flat and can be made thicker and bent like any other object

247 - 310 PM

• Merged the spiraleye.c4d file that was created with Blyth
• While placing it it was then suggested that I extrude the spiral that I already had
• So after a few mess ups (me trying to select and manipulate the right parts) the original spiral was extruded I just need to close a polygon and attach to the mesh
• Extended the extrude on the eye
• Drew out a triangle nose
• Extruded it
• Placed it on the Mesh
• Connected everything to the mesh

Day 14 : [A]

150 - 300 PM

• Moved the button I made during my last session, I'm going to start making the stitches

Day 14 : Class

1230 - 200 PM

• Retrieving files from my home computer
• Class Critique on Yokai walk cycle, and current retro future project

200 - 305 PM

• Tweaking the mesh so that it looks right in hypernurbs
• Played around with the ears with hypernurbs on and off
• Saved file as kit_tail.c4d
• Deleted the polygons around the tail (detaching it from the body)
• Removed polygons from the body leaving 12 exposed segments
• Shifted the segments into an ovular shape
• Selected all the polygons on the tail and moved it over so that it was in line with the opening I had formed in the mesh of the body
• Bridged the segments and adjusted the loops
• Saved new file kit_button.c4d
• When first attempting top create the button eye I tried using a disk object (needless to say, it didn't work it was completely flat)
• Brought in a cylinder with 4x12 segments, made it vertically challenged, deleted the end caps and used the close polygon tool
• selected the loop and shrank it down into something that resembled a button minus the four holes for the thread
• Deleted the untouched half and rotated until in the right position to use the symmetry tool, made it into one connected object then bridged

Goals (By Tuesday)

• Complete button + attach to head
• Create spiral + attach to head
• Create stitching + copy + attach where needed
• (Lastly) Rig

Day 12 : Hw [B]

500 - 530 PM

• Created ear from the head mesh
• Connected the body to the head

530 - 630 PM

• Bridged body to head
• Connected and bridged body and arm
• Connected and bridged leg and body
• Deleted half of the mesh
• Used the symmetry tool and turned it into a null object
• Connected bridged
• Then finally bridged the tail to the body

Day 12 : Hw [A]

500 - 530 PM

• Created the tail with an upright cylinder (which turned out to be interesting)
• Moving onto the leg
• Finished the leg
• Starting on the ear

Day 13 : Class

1225 - 130 PM

• I went through and checked to make sure that I have everything with me for class: character sketches, the file of character sketches, the ogre files (recently updated), and trait packet filled out to the best of my ability.
• I'm going to open up the jpeg file and separate them into 3 files for the front back and side
• Went over the traits with Blyth, it was suggested that I work out further details after I model the image
• Started modeling
• It was pointed out that I didn't have any idea for a connection to the theme of the project so I looked up retro-future and then I realize that I did have a connection and wrote it out in a blunt paragraph for myself
• I had the makings of a head but when I moved onto the the side view I realized that I should leave the cylinder up-right rather than on its side as a means of making my life easier
• Set aside head1 and started on head2

130 - 225 PM

• Checked back in on yokai walk cycle, there was still a quirk in the leg and after Blyth tried fixing it it was eventually decided that it would be best to just pick an angle for the walk cycle and render it which I did immediately after
• Completed head2 and deleted head1
• Working on body

225 - 245 PM : BREAK

245 - 306 PM 

• Completed body
• Working on the arm
• Completed arm
• Uploaded render for walk cycle of yokai project

Hw:

• Complete character modeling
• Rig character
• Plot out ideas for movement/gestures when animated
• Further research for presentation

Day 11 : Hw

245 - 253 AM

• Scanned in character drawings & filled out character packet to the best of my ability seeing as the character is essentially a stuffed animal

400 -  625 PM

• Moved ogre_symmetry2.c4d to the desktop
• Opened up file ogre_symmetry2.c4d and added in the images that apparently didn't quite come with the file of the front, back and side
• Saved as ogre_headaddition.c4d
• I'm cleaning up loops in the mesh
• Created the head and bridged it to the body
• Saved file as ogre_headaddition1.c4d
• I don't think I'm going to make the feet unless I have some extra time on my hands this weekend

Day 12 : Class

1230 - 100 PM

• Went over Quads vs Triangles
• Demonstration on making a head

100 - 145 PM

• Opened ogre_symmetry.c4d
• Figured out the symmetry tool and used it
• Connected the two halves by using a null object, but it was pointed out to me that when it is in HyperNurbs it behaves awkwardly
• So I saved it into today's folder as ogre_connectfault.c4d closed it and reopened ogre_symmetry.c4d
• Used the symmetry tool separated it just enough then connected the two and bridged them
• The file is saved as ogre_symmetry2.c4d
• Starting to create legs, then I'll move onto the head
• Created the left leg (foot not attached)

145 - 200 PM - BREAK

200 - 302 PM

• Used the symmetry tool and positioned the legs
• Connected them
• It was was tricky bridging the crotch, I had no choice but to allow triangles to be made when bridging but afterwards I went back and deleted segments. Using the close polygon tool I was able to make quads and eliminate triangles
• I also closed any open polygons with the exception of the ankles where I plan to add feet, but at the moment I plan on doing the head first and bridging that onto the body. I'll have to do that this weekend.

Hw:

• Render out walk cycle
• Create edge loops on ogre
• Make the head for the ogre
• Go through the character design chart and flesh out character that way
• Scan sketches in and set up character (optional)
• Make feet for ogre (optional)

Day 11 : Hw

1150 AM - 1220 PM

• Did the character sketches for the next project

Day 11 : Class

1230 - 155 PM

• Checked up on completed Yokai file, there is a glitch with the left leg bending awkwardly
• Set up a render anyway > in the middle of the render I realized that I didn't add any texture or colors to it
• Added a plane, a color to yokai and to the plane as well
• Started new assignment with a tutorial on how to take separate parts and put them together into one figure
• The tutorial is being done with an ogre drawing from a character development book excerpt
• Downloaded the images to downloads folder > set up the four viewing windows in c4d and imported the images to front - back - right, resized them to 1000px so that they were all the same size
• Brought in cylinder into the perspective view and shaped it in the different views so that it fit the drawings as best as possible with a horizontal of 10 and a vertical of 10
• (Blog)

155 - 200 Break

200 -210 PM

• Organizing the files
• Demonstration on bridging > Select both objects > Object > connect + delete > now they're one object > Structure > Bridge > now connect from plane to plane btw the two objects

210 - 310 PM

• Finished setting up the arm according to the 3 drawings (front, back, side)
• Aligned arm with the left side
• Saved new file as ogre_bridged.c4d
• Connected the two objects and then bridged them
• They didn't look quite right when I did it though so I decided ti redo it
• I saved the file and reopened the ogre.c4d file
• Saved the file as ogre_bridged2.c4d
• Connected the two objects and then bridged them
• It looked much better, the only tweak that I did was the indent in the underarm cavity
• Saved file
• Saved new file named ogre_symmetry.c4d
• Used the knife tool to cut down the center of the front and back (it's not an exact match on both sides but very close to the y axis line)
• Deleted the left side
• Saved file
• Tried using symmetry but it seems to be a selected option, and tried mirror tool which didn't work (though I only tried it once)

Hw:

• Drawing of new character to follow this project (due by Thursday Oct 14th)

Day 10 : Hw [B]

426 - 526 PM

• Saved file as Yokai_WC_3.c4d
• Correcting weighting so that it all moves right
• The shoulders are distorted and I'm now trying to figure out why by playing with the joints
• Fixed the shoulders and other problem spots

530 - 635 PM

• Added head bob and checked it with the nurbs active
• Added 10 Cycles
• Checking posts on presentations
• Looking for vid clip to put in screen
• Trying to figure out how to do the quick and easy way of copying multiple frames and pasting > FAILED (i have no fucking clue how)

650 - 700 PM

• I'm giving up on the video clip idea 
• I set it up so that the neck moves around some, I'm going to leave it at that

Day 10 : Hw [A]

Friday Oct 8th

1110 - 1136 AM

• Fixed the problems with the bobbing and was working on correcting the weighting on particular joints
• Saved file as Yokai_WC_1.c4d

1256 PM

• Okay, now I've had some stupid problems : 1) In the middle of finishing up some weighting C4D froze and i couldn't shut down the program so I was forced to restart my computer. 2) It repeated itself almost immediately after I opened the file I was working on and again was forced to restart it as well as my blog post. The solution to the problem I believe to be that since I was saving my files directly onto my drive that it was causing a loading problem which as a result caused the program to freeze, so I now have a file on my desktop to work on. (luckily I had saved the file after I had done to major changes to the cycle.)

106 PM

• Saved Yokai_WC_1.c4d file onto desktop
• Was able to work on this file for about 10 - 15 minutes before it froze in the middle of me correcting weighting (This was the third time that I had to restart my computer)

Day 10 : Class

1230 - 100 PM

• Checking in on the Relationship animation
• Changed the camera position
• Made a preview = +
• Set up and started a render

100 - 125 PM

• Found animation tutorial
• I've gotten as far as setting it up so that everything has a keyframe on 1. When I do that I come across a distortion problem
• The problem only occurs when I go to set the 1st keyframe

125 - 135 PM

• Blyth changed the I-K Chain rotations to 0 and was saved as Yokai_ani_1.c4d 
• When setting up the 1st keyframe this time there were no distortions what so ever

137 - 200 PM

• Saved file as Yokai_ani_2.c4d
• Went through the Animation process with my character once using the auto-keyframe, it came out looking awkward in the loop so I went back to Yokai_ani1.c4d
• I'm going to try it again this time without the use of auto-keyframe

200 - 212 PM

• Completed the Walk Cycle for the character
• Accidentally saved over Yokai_ani1.c4d I'll go back and erase changes at the end of class

214 - 235 PM

• Adding head bob and Body bob
• Okay, I went to go and do just that but I tried animating the Mesh (bad idea) and ended up with the same distortion as last time
• Lesson learned : DO NOT ANIMATE THE MESH!!!!
• Other Lesson Learned : ANIMATE THE SPINEROOT INSTEAD!!!

235 - 250 PM : BREAK

250 - 315 PM

• I kinda stared at the screen for a little bit (not gonna lie)
• Then tried lowering the body > 1st by selecting the controllers as well as the spine root, this seemed to work but portions of the body were not moving. It turns out that those parts are not weighted and thus do not move because of it
• I'm going to finish correcting it at home

Day 9 : Hw/Fix-It-All

*NOTE*: I wanted to get work on stuff put into the show by today but there were classes immediately after Animation for the next 3 hours and then I'm in class from 630 - 910 PM in the same room and I usually just want out. (Web Authoring isn't always fun)

10-6-10

1115 PM - 1230 AM

• I opened up the Relationship4.c4d file saved it as Relationship5.c4d > Oct > 10_6_fin
• Changed the timing of the head turn on the Parent object
• Edited the morphs
• Added two more morphs called RightRear_aUP and LeftRear_aUP
• Changed the names of the morphs so that they aren't anagrams anymore
• Tried to see if there were any easier methods than the one I know for morphs, but it's not quite panning out
• Changed the amount of space travelled over time in the timeline (position on the Z axis) for both Parent and Child
• Ran a test
• The head is now moving too slow so I'm shortening the timespan
• The two options I'm considering to fix the sliding issue is to: 1) add the bodies going up and down, or 2) make for pauses in the timeline which I will have to time for appropriate pace

1230 - 115 AM

• Checked out some bear motion animations on youtube
• Decided on having the bodies going up and down was my best bet (although it would be an all-around better animation if I did both)
• First I do the Parent's timeline positioning > found a pattern that worked for it
• Tried implementing parent's pattern on child = bad idea
• The child had its own pattern that I had to work out like I had to do with the parent
• I'm testing the two now

115 - 135 AM

• There was one fault with the child's movement > it was fixed
• Now I'm trying out HyperNURBs on them and its adding to the list of minor problems
• Cancelled HyperNURBs the parent and left it on the child
• Set up a stationary camera called fixed
• Set up a light with a color overhead (green)
• Set up a render (there is an effect on the render)
• Now waiting for render to finish

158 AM

• It finished rendering
• The parent bear kind of floats for a moment which is revealed by the lighting I need to go back and change the value of the height, but I can't do that here the school's about to close for the night and since i came here right after work I don't have my drive to store it on, I would be more than able to adjust the height at home and render it there too.

Day 9 : Class

1230 - 134 PM

• Realized that I had forgotten to set up Portable Hard drive + to bring files for the Yokai project into class
• Set up drive on netbook
• Reset it with iMac at home (mild confusion) and dropped the files onto drive
• Opened file Yokai_2.c4d saved new file called Yokai_weighted.c4d on drive
• Fixed the position of the legs as well as the weighting, though there seems to be a slight problem. The legs look a little pigeon-toed but I can't quite tell at the moment
• Organized folders on drive
• Blogged

134 - 217 PM

• Completed fixing the weighting in the arms, but they were still bending wrong so I...
• Cleared the weighting
• Went back and deleted the I-K Chains for the legs
• Got rid of the unnecessary roots in the feet
• Bent the knee joints in the right direction
• I think that I'm going to delete the I-K Chains in the arms as well due to how they aren't quite bending the right way
• Saved File as YokaiWeighted_3.c4d in drive
• I-K Chains in arms deleted
• Replaced the I-K Chains for both legs
• Tested > +
• Bent the joints in the arms
• Replaced the I-K Chains for both arms
• Tested > +
• Put in a controller

220 - 312 PM

• Saved file named Yokai_Rigged.c4d on drive
• Started watching the (wrong) tutorial for the walk sequence > redirected to the easier walk sequence tutorial
• Re-weighted the body, there was a twist in the left shoulder so I undid the weighting and looked at the other shoulder's rotation and repositioned it with the rotate tool
• Put final weighting on the body
• Saved file as Yokai_Rigged_1.c4d 
• Watching the easier walk Sequence
• Went back and checked the weighting, there is some fixing to do
• The left arm's I-K Chain is bending the wrong way because somehow I managed to bend the joints the wrong way and not notice.
• Readjusted the joint positioning
• Replaced I-K Chain in Left Arm
• Re-weighted mesh
• Making corrections to weighting
• Adding all files from Computer Hard Drive to Portable Drive

Day 8 : Hw

210 - 230 AM:

• Saved new File under the name: yokai_2.c4d
• Adjusted the hips by rotating line segments
• Elongated the legs
• Straightened the legs out
• Leveled out feet

230 - 300 AM

• Created the spine
• Labelled joints in spine to spine1 - spine9
• From spine2 comes the Root followed by the Leg segments for the Left
• I toggled the view and adjusted the joints so that they were in the mesh
• From spine3 comes the Root followed by the Arm segments for the Left
• I toggled the view and adjusted the joints so that they were in the mesh
• Selected the mirror tool and the joints to be mirrored for the Leg
• Tested what axis it was mirroring on until I got it right then set up the rest and mirrored the joints for the Leg
• Mirrored the Joints for the Left Arm
• (I had originally thought that it was the right side that I had set up but it was the left side... Silly me.)

300 - 315 AM

• Posting

315 - 330 AM

• Skinned and Weighted the Mesh
• Corrected the weights
• *Note*: I've found that on mine version of C4D that I don't have shading when it comes to working with the weight tool, maybe I need to activate it in the program but I really don't think that I have it.

334 - !?

• Nothing was done. I was scared out of my room by a spirit and didn't dare to enter until after the sun had lit up the room enough by about 645 AM

650 - 720 AM

• Set up I-K Chains for the arms and neck.
• Whenever I try to set up I-K Chains for the legs they always bend inwards so I don't have any set on either of the legs
• Added Ankle joint and footbase joints for both feet and used the bind function to bind them successfully to the mesh

720 - 725 AM

• Rotated joints in the legs and was able to add I-K Chains, but now the character is not longer in the traditional "T" stance
• I'm going to leave him for now

Day 8: Class

1230 - 1240 PM

• Moodle instructions > Download tutorials file

1245 - 210 PM

• Looking at animation-type-stuff in the Montserrat Gallery as well as the rest of the Gallery
• I like most of them, but I'm not completely bought off by the music and or content of one and another. Just the heads : cat head, Walt Disney head, and Disfigured head. They all disturbed me.
• Though the one that we watched : Say Something I liked, I'm more curious about it than anything seeing as it was done with really simple character designs

210 - 225 PM - BREAK

225 - 250 PM

• Checking into tutorials for rigging

Day 6: Hw

1240 - 1130 PM

• Edited character design
• Description : Insights desire, Name : Dream Taker

Day 7: Class

1230 -145 PM

• Listened to and responded to the Uncanny Valley Assignment
• Researched/searched fro the character designs for Kakurenbo > for a while it was a fail but in the end turned out fruitful (they were on the artist's site Yakumotoswork.com)
• Drew out 3 character designs half-heartedly trying to keep it simple >chose the 3rd one (did that one after I had found the site I was looking for in the aforementioned statement)

145 - 320 PM

• 1st attempt : Sphere set at 10  > deleted
• 2nd attempt: Sphere set at 13 > cinched the waist > deleted
• 3rd attempt: Sphere set at 15 > extruded legs & feet > deleted
• 4th attempt: Sphere set at 12 > inner extrude/extruded the legs(later rotated) > inner extrude/extruded start of the neck > inner extrude/extruded arms (rotated) > shaped the legs > shaped the body > shaped the arms > inner extrude/extruded the neck (rotated when needed) > Created head (extension of the neck), made to look like a tv screen > Saved as Yokai.c4d in folder 9_23
• Compressed and emailed to self (since I'm not using morphs I should be able to easily work on this assignment outside of class at home)

Day 6: Class

1230 - 310 PM

• Rendered out relationship project
• Class presentation and discussion on projects
• Presentation of next assignment: Yokai
• Break
• Tutorials on youtube: octopus, cat, cow
• Continue going over the Yokai assignment in further detail > keep the idea simple > it will be given bones, made to walk and preform a gesture at the end of the cycle > use the list of Yokai link posted in moodle as a means of gathering ideas
• Idea for the Yokai project are due on Tuesday > we will start working on them in class > they will be due next thursday (30th) > post description of the yokai onto assigned spot on moodle
• 240 - 300 PM : Research for yokai

Day 5 : Hw

*Note: On Friday the 17th I checked on my version of C4D and found that there was no morph tool that I could use with this project at home so it took me until the time recorded in this log to do what I needed to do

9/20 - 9/21

1145 PM - 1210 AM

• Went into the child morph and added the head bob
• Before doing the parent I'm double checking the placement of the head bob

1210 - 1255 AM

• Parent is animated to move forward with the head bob at a rate of 50m per keyframe
• Child will thus have 25m per keyframe maximum for movement

1255 - 130 AM

• I went through and animated the child at the rate specified above
• I considered going and making their bodies also have a bob motion but seeing as I have a 955 AM class tomorrow I'm going to leave the animation as it is. If I have time at the beginning of class then I'll do it

Day 5 : [B]

130 - 150 PM :

• Looked up quadruped walk sequences on Youtube

150 - 315 PM :

• Animated the parent object > recycled walk sequence
• Animated the child object > recycled walk sequence
• Tried putting a head-bob into the animated sequence and have come across some problems: The head will stretch to a point that is different than when I had it set at the same percentage. I think that I have to refresh after each animation I do of the head in the morph toolbar, I'll try that first.
• The only primary thing left to do is to make the objects move forward which I plan to do at home this weekend (But I'm not sure whether or not I have the morph function as an option in my version of the program, I need to check that ASAP!)

Day 5 : [A]

1230 - 115 PM :

• Opened file Relationship.c4d and changed name to Relationship1.c4d and put it into a folder called 9_16 
• Created a copy of the object labeled parent and called it child, I went to test the morphs on the child and they are set to the same coordinates as the parent which translates to them being over-extended
• So I started to try changing the morphs but I couldn't get the magnet tool onto the right size setting and thus cleared the morph selections and changed the magnet tool to a manageable size and remade the morphs for the child

Day 4 : Class [A]

(Was late to class by about 10 or 15 minutes)
[So all times are approximate]

• 1230 - 100 PM : Going over morphs and how to animate them
• 100 - 200 PM : Playing with the the morph function, creating something that could be considered a creature of sorts and animate it then compressed the file and saved it to the designated spot on Moodle
• 200 - 210 PM : Break
• 210 - 312 PM : Starting work on Relationship project

What's been done and What's to be done

• I've created a morph called parent and have given it 14 morphs to use in the animation process
• I'm going to duplicate the object labeled parent and rename it child
• From there I'm going to make a walking sequence of the two side by side: child will look up to parent, and parent down to child, maybe a snuggle btw the two
• If I can get those movements in then I'll try out my story-board plan

Day 3: Hw [D]

1042 -1051 AM

• Watched tutorial posted on moodle

1100 - 1120 AM

• Started and completed youtube Tutorial

Day 3: Hw [C]

9/12/10

1200 - 130 AM

• Looking for an idea for Relationship story-board
• Started drawing out plan

100 - 130 PM

• Relationship Story-board completed

Day 3: Hw [B]

1230 - 100 PM

• I was continuing the work I had already done (adding swivels and jumps) but when I had played it the animation was far too erratic (I believe that I posted that) so I created another file. I now have files named: CylinderSB_lT_1, CylinderSB_lT_2, CylinderSB_lT_3.

300 - 510 PM

• I took the last saved file listed above and deleted all the frames and started from scratch (CylinderSB_lT_4)
• Created a second file :  CylinderSB_lT_4_1
• Going along with manually creating and placing jumps and swivels at a different interval (approx. 1/4 of a second [every 5 frames]) to get the erratic effect without it being jerky and overly done.
• Around 4:15 I played it and found that the swivels look more like twirls (I only had two at the time), for the time being I left them and put more thought into avoiding doing that with the last one that I have in the scene
• In order to avoid it I've put a frame in between at one point so it goes back and forth between two points and then to the third point into a jump (I'm at frame 204)
• I've also made sure to animate the position of the mesh separately
• Just completed the jump to the off screen and set up placement of the next on-screen frame
• ALMOST DONE!!! (with the build that is, I'm still going to have to render and arrange it properly... I'll think about that when I come to it)

510 - 530 PM : Break

530 - 645 PM

• Animated the last sequence of the cylinder
• Animated the camera (finally!)
• Rendered a preview
• I didn't like the color of the lighting and I'm going to change it yet again (god I'm annoying to work with)
• Me being me I not only changed the light's color but animated it too...
• Okay I'm not going to do another render preview I'm just going to render it so that I can add the sound later

Day 3: Hw [A]

• 1200 - 115 PM
• I got the duplication of frames to work in the timeline window > Edit > Copy > (then the finicky part of the endeavor) Hold CTL while clicking on the segment(s) that were copied (they still have to be highlighted from when they were copied or it won't work at all) and make to drag the segment over to either side of the original and release > Behold, the copy!!!
• Upon getting that crap out of the way there is still one thing that I have to do (and am hoping to memorize the process of so that this weekend goes by smoothly) changing the positions of the copied frames in a way that they still behave normally
• Alright I did the math and plotted out the replicated placements but now I can't get the above sequence to work for me again. Goddamn pain in the neck. Well my solution to that is to simply replicate it when I need it and otherwise make it up as I go. It's supposed to be pretty erratic anyways, it'll probably be easier to do manually than to rely on a faulty function that works under particular conditions.
• 141 - 244 PM
• Changes perspectives
• Set up the camera with a protection tag
• I started the animation process and have gotten up to a little over 105 frames but I'm looking at it play through and I'm thinking that I'm going to have to ignore the frame placements for the actions and just set them up as I go  because this is too erratic for me

Day 3 : Class [A]

• 1230 - 115 PM : Going over Timeline, materials, cameras, lights, sky, floor
• 115 - 145 PM : Looking over everyone's Cylinderjump exercise as a class, open discussion
• 145 - 200 PM : I changed the color of the lights and experimented with the texture attributes until satisfied with a rustic orange (I'll probably add another color that's close to it at some point) [I saved before continuing]
• 200 - 235 PM : Made numerous attempts to  duplicate a group of frames and am still failing. I looked it up multiple times and have received the same answers that I've already tried. I can duplicate them one by one but then when I set them up in the timeline and have it play it doesn't repeat the same motion at all!!!! I'm extremely frustrated!!!!! 

Day 2: Hw

Due to poor time management on my part I won't be starting the story-boarded animation until Thursday, on the up side I got the jump animation completed to my satisfaction while in class so it is more than ready to render.

I'll probably show up early for class to get a handle on the story-board animation, since most of the animation is repeated such as the hopping and the swiveling I might need a reminder on how to reuse frames in the timeline.

Day 2 : Overview of Concepts of Animation [C]

• 150 - 230 PM : Practice jumping with Cylinder (I set up a plane and colored lighting)
• Make sure that the second icon down on the tools list is active in order to move the joints
• Joint.1.Pole  is what controls the direction of the joint/bend and will change the movement if its placement is changed (right now I'm leaving the pole inside the object)
• 230 - 300 PM : Personalizing the changes to the jump sequence(s), Checking story boards and timing sheets

Day 2 : Overview of Concepts of Animation [B]

• 1250 - 140 PM : Cylinder Jumping instructions, brief review on the creation of the cylinder
• 140 -150 PM : Break

Day 2 : Overview of Concepts of Animation [A]

• 1215 - 1235 PM : Set up Cylinder from the step by step instructions but I'm having the same problems that I had last class, I thought that I understood what I did wrong and could replicate the cylinder on my own but I was wrong. I'll ask for assistance once the Principles of Animation class discussion is complete.
• 1235 - 1250 PM : Principles of Animation with examples pertaining to current project

Day 1 : Hw [D]

1130 PM - 1200 AM

Completed Story Board

Day 1: Hw [C]

1130 - 100 PM

• Story-boarding and Filling out the Actions Production sheet frame by frame up to 15 seconds... Still need to finish story board

Day 1: Hw [B]

1209 - 105 PM

• Used Real Cylinder for reference on movements
• Decided the sequence of movements desired for 15 Second Animation
• Making a Storyboard
• Made 20 Copies
• Marked Storyboard each square equals 1 second of animation (Visual Timeline)
• Made 20 Copies of the Production/Actions sheet front and back
• Started Filling out Productions/Actions Sheets
• Started filling out storyboard

Day 1: Hw [A]

• 453 - 510 : Listening to A Podcast with Nicholson Baker : The New Yorker : My Son is Killing Me

Response: 510 - 524
I had given this sort of thing some thought years prior to knowing about this article, but I don't see any need for a debate. Whether they be on the topics of video games or if they are age appropriate, as well as parental guidance issues.
Although I don't play video games avidly my 17 year old brother Doug and 13 year old brother Luke do. They are extremely picky about what games they play yet we still have a ton of them at the house.
Most of the games that are played I find to be aesthetically pleasing is story line, picture and/or audio; all of which are art forms that apply to my preferences....


I'm going to reorganize my thoughts and redo this in a couple minutes.

Day 1 : Introduction to 3D Character Animation [B]

• 130-300 : Went over the construction of joints in a Cylinder
• Practiced flexing cylinder
• Tested cylinder movements in real time
• Start planning 15 second animation
• Hw: Complete storyboard and planner for 15 second animation
• Hw: Response to My Son is Killing Me

Day 1 : Introduction to 3D Character Animation [A]

• 1230 - 1245 : Going over the Syllabus
• "" : Brief discussion of Moodle, Blogspot.com, Set up blog, Site to visit for info
• 1245 - 110 : Overview of tools in c4d (Primitives: Cube, Move, Scale, Rotate, Window Toggle, Zoom, Move: Window, Rotate: Window, Default: Perspective, Reset Layout, Object Properties, Naming Objects, Single Direction Movement, Set Movement (Lock Settings), World Coordinates
• 110 - 120 : Individual Interaction with c4d
• 120 - 130 : Break