[Riot Creative Contest 2017] - Tyler Anthony
greentooth
I'll have an outgoing adventurer with her friend jellyfish!
I figured I'd share my workflow since most of my updates are just playblasts. I have a detailed breakdown on my site, but here's the tldr;
Final- Movement Cycle:
Final- Recall:I figured I'd share my workflow since most of my updates are just playblasts. I have a detailed breakdown on my site, but here's the tldr;
-Write down a ton of ideas, narrow it down.
-Gather resources. Rigs, props, scenery, etc.
-Layout the scene (import resources, setup camera)
-Blocking pass with cubes in place of characters
-Rough blocking with rigs
-Refine poses (personal workflow step)
-Blocking Plus
-Feedback
-Spline
-Feedback
-Polish
-Feedback
I like to get ideas out quickly to see if it works or not, so most of my workflow revolves around jumping in Maya early and getting something done (even if it's "ugly").
Thanks for taking a look, comments and critiques always welcome!
Replies
I look forward to seeing more!
One of my favorite animation things in League are the walk fidgets. Ex: Occasionally Kha'Zix will jump during his run cycle. I think it adds a lot so I'm attempting the same thing! The idea is to have her bounce off and try to pull the jellyfish to move faster, but the jellyfish thinks it's safer for her to be riding.
Loads of polish left, but I'm moving on for now.
For this recall the idea is the Jellyfish starts sucking his "thumb" as he and the adventurer are idling and he's bored. The adventurer is not pleased. She dives into the Jellyfishe's "pockets". Random objects fall out until the Jellyfish has had enough! She surprises him with a lollipop and he's very excited since it's his favorite treat.
although i think the recall animation has a limit of 8 seconds, but i do not know if it is necessary
Congratulations !
I'd also been wondering about the Recall animation length - it looks like some champs have a 'landing' animation and others just kind of appear. Looks pretty clear to me what's what in your work though. Nicely done!
Walk- https://syncsketch.com/sketch/d04d03730c8a/#316145
Recall- https://syncsketch.com/sketch/d04d03730c8a/#316141
https://syncsketch.com/sketch/d04d03730c8a/#319575
@GravityBwlast Thanks man! Lots of polish left, but getting closer.
https://syncsketch.com/sketch/d04d03730c8a/#320857
https://syncsketch.com/sketch/d04d03730c8a/#322528
Lessons Learned
1. Clarity
It's a habit of mine to make ideas that are overly complex or adding too many ideas, I've talked about it in previous shots. I don't believe this was one of those times! I kept the idea for the Recall simple, but I made some changes to make it more clear to the audience. I go over it a little bit in my previous posts. I had multiple people tell me it took them a few viewings to understand that the Adventurer was, what I like to call, “searching in the Jellyfish's pockets”.
Part of this was due to the camera angle being high and part of it was due to the anticipation/motivation before the action. The original idea was for the Jellyfish to get bored and start sucking on its arm. The Adventurer was not pleased with this and that would motivate her to search for something else to put in the Jellyfish's mouth. Jason Shum gave me some great feedback and pointed out that, even though it may be a bit more cliché, having the Jellyfish point towards it's mouth (signally hunger) would be more relatable and clear.
There were a few more moments that also happen quickly so it's important to make sure they read. Such as on the Recall Winddown (when the pair return to the screen) and the lollipop is flying through the air. Making sure the Jellyfish is tracking the lollipop with his eyes and opening his mouth to show anticipation to jump up and eat it. There's a lot of motion happening so it's good to help lead the audience in more ways than just a body anticipation.
Things that went right
1. Style
League of Legends has a distinct style that includes exaggerated timing. I wasn't experienced or comfortable with this style in the last contest they held. This time I made sure to study reference and not be afraid of breaking the rigs. Although these characters may not fit visually into the League universe it was still my goal to make them feel as though they belonged there.
2. Readability
This is a bit different than the “Clarity” I talked about above. When I say clarity I'm talking about “can you understand the idea that is being conveyed” and when I say readability I mean “can you tell what is happening from the game camera”. League has a top down camera, that combined with the relatively simple rigs provided some challenges.
I consciously made the decision to match the characters. Neither one overshadowed the other in terms of visual busyness and they both have appeal. The Cuby rig has a large central mass with stumpy appendages which made it difficult at times to make her read clearly from a distance. The Jellyfish rig had six arms that were positioned underneath him, which made it hard to see them from a high angle.
Knowing the camera and how the characters will be seen in game does allow you to take advantage of those facts, however. The Recall will only ever be seen from one angle so I was able to cheat some poses towards the camera. I took the opportunity to separate the characters on the Walk Cycle by popping up the Adventurer because having one character on top of the other can also muddy the silhouette.
Credits:
Cuby rig- https://vimeo.com/francm127
Fish model- @quaternius
Jellyfish rig- @ylsiew