Welcome to the production blog of my capstone animation. Over the next 16 months, I will be updating this page with reports and previews of my capstone’s progress. This page will continue to get longer and longer over time with the most recent updates being closest to the bottom.
February 17, 2021
Currently, I am trying to narrow down ideas for my capstone but my main struggle is figuring out whether I will use music or not because there’s the issue of licensing and managing all of that. So that is the main hurdle that I need to overcome in order to be more decisive in my thoughts regarding an idea.
February 24, 2021
No longer pursuing my original ideas involving rotoscoping or music due to the complications it would cause. I’ve decided to just go with something that will make people laugh as my next choice but I still want to do the other ideas so I still haven’t settled on anything.
March 3, 2021
Recently I came up with a script for a sitcom pilot based on a joke between myself and two friends and the idea of using that script as a jumping-off base seems to have some potential. The sitcom aspect is most likely influenced by a recent binge of WandaVision a week prior to writing the script. Since I originally wrote the script for the three of us, I would need to make some changes if I wished to use the same characters for the script/animation for my capstone.
March 10, 2021
Since last week I’ve created moodboards and concept art for my capstone, which you can view by clicking the link.
March 17, 2021
Not much progress was made regarding my project. I will be altering the script to be more appealing to a general audience and to match the format of a real script by next week. Last week I met with a senior currently working on her capstone to ask her about her progress and workflow and that was fun.
March 24, 2021
Script has been formatted to fit Hollywood standards and can be viewed here. Changes may be made in the future but currently, I’m happy with where it’s at.
April 14, 2021
Storyboards have been drawn and can be viewed here. One of the storyboards was drawn out of order so the blue arrow on the last page is meant to show its correct placement on that page.
May 6, 2021
After making digital drawings of the storyboards I created an animatic has been made and can be viewed below.
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September 20th, 2021
For the next phase of my capstone project, I created video references for certain shots of my animatic.
September 30th, 2021
I’ve created rough storyboards and new lines for an alternative ending for my capstone. Originally it was just going to be the siblings saying “Did not/Did too” to each other but now I’ve created an actual argument that feels funnier and overall stronger as a scene. I’m unsure however if I’ll have the rest of my animation complete in time to attempt animating this alternate ending but I hope I’m able to.
October 14th, 2021
I’ve settled on using Adobe Character Animator as my program of choice for my animation. It has a lot of features that will make the overall process easier, especially with how animating dialogue can be approached.
October 18th, 2021
I’ve begun practicing with character rigs in Character Animator and recorded a brief test of a rig I’m designing. This is a very plain design, nothing fancy yet. I’m just trying to use the motion capture and get a feel for the accuracy of the mouth tracking.
November 21, 2021
I’ve made a lot of progress since my last blog update but since there’s so much I’ll just jump to where I’m at with a completed rough pass of my capstone animation.
February 1st, 2022
I’ve created the first body rig with Character Animator to use for capturing body performances for the capstone characters. In this video, you will first see a performance of the model alone, then one with both the body and face tracking activated, and finally an old face performance linked with a new body performance.
February 8th, 2022
I’ve created rigs for the remaining characters and compiled recordings I did for each rig to make sure they were working properly. The arms of the news reporter are the same as the father’s arms due to some complications from the reporter’s original arms. There are some noticeable folds or overlapping lines when the elbows bend too much which is helpful for making sure I don’t exaggerate certain movements too much when capturing future performances.
February 15th, 2022
Since last week I’ve successfully combined the body rigs I created with the head rigs used for the rough pass. This way I can capture new movements for the body and arms while keeping all the original lip-synching and head movements. So far I’ve captured the body and arm movements of the Brother, Sister, and Father. I didn’t capture new performances for the news reporter yet since their part is so small and I can just do that when I recapture any parts of the performances after I get feedback on the initial ones.
February 22, 2022
I went ahead and captured performances for the news reporter and compiled the new footage with the other recordings to create my third pass. After receiving feedback on this pass my next plan is to run some tests by adding different hand shapes to the arms. If it works how I think it will I should have the ability to turn on and off the visibility of different hand shapes with the already recorded footage, and have the appropriate hand shape showing at the correct time based on the arm’s position.
March 1st, 2022
While difficult at first I’ve managed to implement hands to the rigs that can be swapped on command, and I’m also able to do this with footage I’ve already recorded. As of now, hands have been implemented and tested for all of the characters. I’ve altered the shirts of the brother and sister so they each have their own references or easter eggs. My next plan is to adjust the script to try and quicken the pace and alter certain scenes based on feedback I’ve received. I also intend to re-record voice lines for improved audio at some point in the future.
March 8th, 2022
Below is a compilation of the characters’ hand swaps in action. So far the voice lines for the father and the sister have been rerecorded and the voice lines for the brother and the news reporter will follow shortly. By the next pass of my capstone, I will have the new voice lines, face, and body movements captured.
March 15th, 2022
The fourth pass of the animation is complete, and includes new and rerecorded voice lines from an updated script. It also has a new voice for the sister! Thanks, Sydney! New laugh tracks were used and the shots are also different in some scenes.
March 22th, 2022
Spring Break
March 29th, 2022
The fifth and final pass of the animation is complete. Noticeable changes are the updated living room, moving text on the news prompter, making the connection between the sibling’s hands and arms seamless, and adding a title card and credits. (Below video includes updates mentioned in the next blog post)
April 5th, 2022
After getting some final feedback on the fifth pass I went and added additional laughter as well as music to the credits so that there wasn’t a sudden cut-off in audio. This updated version can be viewed with the same link, and can still be watched here right above this blog post. With that, I am happy to announce that I have now officially completed my capstone! Thank you for watching my progress on this journey!