July Animation WIP - "Class Entrance" part 3 PUSH N FIX

In this process, I have made most of the changes I needed to make and feel comfortable with the shot. The main goal was to make things clear and to fix any parts that were not working or just didn't feel right. From here I see the polish and just pushing more of the shot.

Meet the Character - Trixie

Character Designs

Designing Trixie too some exploring as you can see what I first began with, evolved into a more refined and simplified version.

Exploring Character Model Styles

I began exploring styles for Trixie in 3D. It was until I knew I had to stay true to the hand drawn and digital designs that I would bring Trixie to life. The first few attempts were more explorative than actually trying to hit the style. Once I dove into the modeling and was firm on the idea that I would keep this character as light as possible was when the final design came to life.

Trixie and X Gen (maya's hair system)

I explored the use of X Gen which I became very familiar with having used it for Trixie and Packie. Maya 2015 was the first year with X Gen as the new hair system which brought some bugs into my pipeline. Because of this I decided to go without the use of a hair system and count on only modeled hair. I went as far as incorporating a rigging system to test the deformation of the hairs on the rigged character which worked out well.

Character Model

I began modeling Trixie as just a nude figure to then add clothing. From the designs you can see that I went through various changes and even rigged controls to be able to swap through accessories and clothing. The hairstyle was something that I really experimented with up until I found the results that I was happy with. I began with Xgen hair, and then continued to variations of mesh hair options that lead to her current style in the end. Xgen seemed to be a little buggy at times which was the main reason why I left that choice soon enough to not deal with issues later in the pipeline.

Turn Table Reel

Character Rig

I designed Trixie's rig to be very simple, and easy to use. Using joints as the main rigging method I am able to get enough control through out the face and body to create the fleshy and cartoon styled shapes I desire. The skinning was an area I focused on heavily to create the best deformation possible without blendshapes.

Test Animation

In this test animation I was simply checking how cartoony I can push her for the style of animation I choose for the film. I was happy with the results even without using the bend controls.

As a study of animation I am replicating the animation from a shot in the film Storks in which Tulip is cheering her self on having touchdowned a letter into a machine, animated by Paul Pammesberger. It's my favorite shot in the film ha (-'v'- )