A this stage I have now completed animating my model, and have rendered and exported the animation.
The animation process was generally the easiest stage of modelling and animation for this character to implement; however it wasn't quite easy all the way through, as there were many more specific problems which occurred, quite a few by chance, which made this process much more frustrating and difficult.
However, overall the animation works and doesn't look bad or too unnatural, and uses a good variety of movements. However, it is far from perfect as some parts do look somewhat strange, and the animation isn't quite exact to or as fluent as the original clip.
The first of these problems is that arm IK handles did not have entirely free movement, which meant that they couldn't be in the exact position they would be needed in, which can look odd or off, especially compared to the original clip. Additionally, moving them too far in any one direction would cause the arm to move in incredibly irrational ways, which is very bad for the animation.
Another problem I had is that when setting key frames for anything in the animation, it would cause anything that is the parent of it to not be able to move it properly, or not at all; for example, setting hey frames for my character's arms and head caused the global control curve to move everything other than the arms and head, which would stay in place (causing extremely odd stretching), and had to be move into place manually.
In addition, painting weights after starting animation (to improve how the joints move and make the animation smoother and generally better) caused the entire animation to break up to a certain point, as it would make some joints and parts of the mesh to squash and stretch unnaturally, and so painting weights after this point was not possible.
The rendering process overall ended quite well, the scene looks good in quality, the camera position and angle is as good as it could be, and the lighting is efficient in placement, lights all important parts of the scene well, and isn't too bright or too dark. Additionally, the render settings were modified effectively to improve the render of the animation further.
The rendering process was not difficult as such, but was very frustrating as there was a reoccurring problem which I found incredibly hard to fix. While attempting to batch render in Maya Software, I always got an error report popup when certain frames were attempted to be rendered, and the render would stop (but not cancel) and the file for that rendered frame was completely empty and so unusable. Additionally, while on University computers, I repeatedly got an error inside Maya after setting the project, which prevented the file from being rendered completely. In the end, to fix this problem I had to use the Maya Hardware 2.0 to render the animation.
However, from the rendering of this model I learned quite a few things. I had learned about how to change the gamma type used in non-render views , and allow batch renders using Maya Hardware 2.0 to have a different gamma type to sRGB gamma; this was through using colour management inside preferences. Additionally to this, I had learned how the different gamma types vary, and how to change the gamma values in render view and in Maya Software rendering (Gamma correction).
Another thing I have learned is how to use time stretch (in the layers tab) and modify the fps (in the composition settings) used in Adobe After Effects; as the original intended fps for the animation was 24 fps.
Overall for this project in its entirety, it has been incredibly arduous to complete; however, I have learned many different things about Maya in all aspects, including modelling, rigging, animation and rendering (and a little about Adobe After Effects), become more proficient at modelling, rigging, animation and rendering, and have created a fully completed and functional model of a human character, along with a fully functional rig and animation. For my project as a whole, it could have been much better given more time, understanding of a few different topics, and without the cancellation of most lectures during the rigging process. However, It is quite decent looking overall without anything looking particularly off, while it is not incomplete in any way.
A link to the final animation render can be found below:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ofZg3a9_W8XtU8ukcfYiPnRuVp4BQw6U
The animation process was generally the easiest stage of modelling and animation for this character to implement; however it wasn't quite easy all the way through, as there were many more specific problems which occurred, quite a few by chance, which made this process much more frustrating and difficult.
However, overall the animation works and doesn't look bad or too unnatural, and uses a good variety of movements. However, it is far from perfect as some parts do look somewhat strange, and the animation isn't quite exact to or as fluent as the original clip.
The first of these problems is that arm IK handles did not have entirely free movement, which meant that they couldn't be in the exact position they would be needed in, which can look odd or off, especially compared to the original clip. Additionally, moving them too far in any one direction would cause the arm to move in incredibly irrational ways, which is very bad for the animation.
Another problem I had is that when setting key frames for anything in the animation, it would cause anything that is the parent of it to not be able to move it properly, or not at all; for example, setting hey frames for my character's arms and head caused the global control curve to move everything other than the arms and head, which would stay in place (causing extremely odd stretching), and had to be move into place manually.
In addition, painting weights after starting animation (to improve how the joints move and make the animation smoother and generally better) caused the entire animation to break up to a certain point, as it would make some joints and parts of the mesh to squash and stretch unnaturally, and so painting weights after this point was not possible.
The rendering process overall ended quite well, the scene looks good in quality, the camera position and angle is as good as it could be, and the lighting is efficient in placement, lights all important parts of the scene well, and isn't too bright or too dark. Additionally, the render settings were modified effectively to improve the render of the animation further.
The rendering process was not difficult as such, but was very frustrating as there was a reoccurring problem which I found incredibly hard to fix. While attempting to batch render in Maya Software, I always got an error report popup when certain frames were attempted to be rendered, and the render would stop (but not cancel) and the file for that rendered frame was completely empty and so unusable. Additionally, while on University computers, I repeatedly got an error inside Maya after setting the project, which prevented the file from being rendered completely. In the end, to fix this problem I had to use the Maya Hardware 2.0 to render the animation.
However, from the rendering of this model I learned quite a few things. I had learned about how to change the gamma type used in non-render views , and allow batch renders using Maya Hardware 2.0 to have a different gamma type to sRGB gamma; this was through using colour management inside preferences. Additionally to this, I had learned how the different gamma types vary, and how to change the gamma values in render view and in Maya Software rendering (Gamma correction).
Another thing I have learned is how to use time stretch (in the layers tab) and modify the fps (in the composition settings) used in Adobe After Effects; as the original intended fps for the animation was 24 fps.
Overall for this project in its entirety, it has been incredibly arduous to complete; however, I have learned many different things about Maya in all aspects, including modelling, rigging, animation and rendering (and a little about Adobe After Effects), become more proficient at modelling, rigging, animation and rendering, and have created a fully completed and functional model of a human character, along with a fully functional rig and animation. For my project as a whole, it could have been much better given more time, understanding of a few different topics, and without the cancellation of most lectures during the rigging process. However, It is quite decent looking overall without anything looking particularly off, while it is not incomplete in any way.
A link to the final animation render can be found below:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ofZg3a9_W8XtU8ukcfYiPnRuVp4BQw6U
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