Animating Each Character...

After animating for a few days I've started getting to know the character models better. So far they have proved to be difficult to manoeuvre, since they are quite stiff and crack fairly easily; however I am managing to get some movement out of them, as I experimented with a couple of sequences:




I found that the aubergine is slightly wonky and the arms aren't quite long enough to reach the saxophone, but if I stick his feat to the ground then he should have enough stability to lean forwards and back, which could be a way to animate the saxophone solo later on in the video.

The orange also has one leg longer than the other, but he is more stable on his feet; despite this the only movement we really need from him is strumming the guitar, which at first I thought would prove to hinder us as his hands are a lot bigger then the guitar. However I think the motion we have for him works well and gives the piece a humorous charm.

The lemon doesn't have to move much either, though his legs are higher and even. The arms seem to move together unless I hold one of them still, which could become a nuisance to animate with; the basic movements he makes seem to be a bit slow paced compared to the upbeat song, but the animation still works fairly well considering his role in the music video.

In the end we used the character model that David made as a test for the pepper - since this one is much skinnier and accurate to the original character design compared to the one Grace and I originally made. This model doesn't have an armature, so based on my experience with animating plasticine previously in the module 'Responsive', eventually the plasticine will break; however so far it has been holding up fairly well and has been enjoyable to animate; it is easier to stretch and twist his arms, which is good for when he needs to hit the drums.

I can see that the strawberry will be the hardest one to animate; her armature is quite stiff and Grace had to use two different types of clay to cover her body, which means it won't blend well together so it will be harder to fix the cracks caused by her movement. She is the only character who moves around the stage, which will prove to be a challenge (especially with her legs); however I have managed to manoeuvre her as smoothly as I can, which gives the piece a quirky feel to it.

I look forward to seeing what they look like with faces!