Visual Effects 1 - Lesson 2

    

This is my second assignment for my Visual Effects 1 class. For this lesson, we had to work with particle systems in Maya Dynamics. The left video is a playblast, while the right is a render.

The only part that I really struggled with on this assignment was the smoke. For one, I was having issues just getting the particles to form in the shape of smoke. Also, I was having trouble with texture of the smoke. No matter what I did, the smoke always rendered flat, so I added a fractal noise to the smoke once I composited everything in After Effects. Other then that, I'm fairly happy with it.

Visual Effects by Hannah Epling
Scene provided

Visual Effects 1 - Lesson 1

 

For this assignment, we focused mainly on Rigid Bodies of the Maya Dynamics system. The first video is a playblast of the scene. This is from the actual render camera and follows the motion of the ball. The second video is a failed render. I was having issues rendering this scene out for a while. Not only would it not render all the way, but it rendered from the wrong camera. But at least I had something to turn in.

What are you going to do?

Oh well. Overall this scene wasn't too bad. I had a little bit of trouble getting the balls to move fast enough through the scene, so I had to key gravity in a couple areas. It's pretty noticeable, but I tried to hide it. Also, at the very end of the scene when the ball is launched into the air, I feel that it moves too slow before hitting the rotating bowl. 

Animation, Lighting, and Textures by Hannah Epling

Scene and Models provided

Tinker Bell belongs to Walt Disney Studios

Character Animation 1 - Lesson 2

For this assignment in Character Animation 1, we were instructed to create 7 dynamic poses: Relaxed, Fear, Anger, Happiness, Sadness, Disgust, and a Balanced pose. Overall, I felt that I did pretty well, but the Fear pose could have been tweaked just a bit. This silhouette is not quite as readable as it could be. But overall, no complaints. 

Animation by Hannah Epling

Character provided

Character Animation 1 - Lesson 1

 

So, here is a playblast Part 1 and 2 of my first Character Animation assignment. The character, nicknamed "Eggy" starts by walking across the scene, then turns around at the mailbox.

As far as the walk itself, it does seem a bit bouncy and the feet tend to stick just slightly. Along with this, the turn-around could have been swung out more. Doing this could have avoided the character being so close to the mailbox at the end. Also, his body could have rotated slightly more at the end.

Animation by Hannah Epling
Character provided

July Classes

This month I am taking the classes Character Animation1 and Visual Effects 1. So far, these are not my favorite classes, but I do understand the extreme importance of both. I look forward to posting my projects from these classes.

Introduction

Hello everyone! 

My name is Hannah Epling. When I was young, I realized that I absolutely loved to draw and paint. While I sill am very passionate about traditional art, I ended up transferring that love to the digital side. Now, I am currently studying Computer Animation at Full Sail University, though I want to keep my focus on digital modeling. 

I hope to one day be able to share the wonders of artistic creations with children all around the world!