Final Thoughts

Well here we are, my friends. The end of the road is finally here. I still remember the early days of Year 2, making my first 3D blog and creating a single 3D mesh of Spongebob. I honestly wouldn't have guessed that I'd end up making the creations you've seen over the past 2 years.

This semester has involved a lot work... Moreso than any other semester's-worth of 3D (Which is expected, to be honest, seeing as it is my 3rd year!). Fortunately, it's been less frustrating than before. I felt a lot more confident and comfortable around Organic Modelling and now had full control over exactly what I would do and how (Rather than following a set of tutorials). As a result, this allowed me to avoid a lot of the annoying problems, like the symmetry modifier, which I had last semester.

Main thing now is that I will never underestimate the large amounts of work that goes into getting a set of 3D characters up and running (Quite literally!). There was a lot of steps required just to get the point where I could make one of the smile. Granted, it was a lot of work - But it made the animation process so much smoother, rather than attempting to leap in an animate right off the bat. I'm sure many others can attest to the fact that planning and structuring the characters completely early on makes for less hassle during animation.

So the first stage was coming up with the concept and plan. The theme was incredibly open - focussing purely on "Emotions" rather than a particular topic. This was actually worse for me, as I've always struggled with open-ended ideas. Given time, I can creatively work out ideas for a theme where I have some sort of 'limitation' (i.e. A specific theme to base it on) - But I tend to find myself lost without any foundation to base my ideas on. I still remember one evening when doing English homework in secondary school. We had to just write a poem... any poem... whatever we wanted. I spent more time trying to find a topic than I did wriring it! (3 hours at least deciding a theme). So whilst I find the open-endedness somewhat against my style - It was a much-needed exercise (After all, I ideally need to develop a greater sense of decisiveness when it comes to open-ended situations). So instead of focussing on the plot or theme - I decided to focus on the sort of characters I'd have the most fun animation (Being the key factor, after all). Whilst the ideas took a while to properly formulate - I'm very happy that I settled on the 2 aliens. I'm also very happy with the Chess theme, which was a lot more fun than the initial idea of having the 2 of them carrying boxes.

Next stage was the modelling. After the previous semester's work of making my head - This was less painful, if I'm honest. For one thing, I could spent the time looking at cute drawings of aliens, and not my head (Makes a change) - But also because creative license was open to have a lot more fun with the models. They could look as cute or strange as I wanted them to. Seeing a funny-looking alien come to life is a lot more appealing than seeing a realistic face, if I'm honest. Though it took a while to do (And areas like the mouth required several attempts), I was very happy with the outcomes of both. In fact, Carl seemed to have a more 'refined' character than I originally had in the concept drawings. He looked like a bit more of a slob, which gave his character a bit more texture. Kris came out perfect in my opinion. He looks just like I planned him to.

The bones was the next stage. Whilst the majority of the envelopes worked out according the plan (Arms, fingers, antennae, stalks and legs), I found that the shoulder and hip joints were very weak during animation. Maybe it was the additional bones or just a weak mesh... but either way, they threw up several mesh disfigurations, twists and pinches as I moved the characters around. You can see the worst of them on Kris' shoulder as he performs the 'Castle' (Good thing the shoulder is hidden for the majority of the animation!). Though I tried to go back and edit the envelopes to see if I could change this - I found that nothing could save the mesh, and had to put it down to weak connections between the limbs and the torso.

The morphers, on the other hand, went very well. Like the organic modelling, it took a while and frequently involved trial-and-error, often having to re-do from scratch - I feel that the expressions came out very well. The only thing I could have improved was even more morphers! (Perhaps some separate morphers for Carl's cheek bones to allow his eyes to show more emotion when smiling)

As for the Animaiton - I'm very happy with the outcome. Whilst I might not have the patience for it - I'd definitely say that it's my niche in 3D work. I find myself getting really involved with the character's motions, to the extent that I'll sometimes act them out and harass my flatmates to help me if the actions involve 2 people. To me, detail is everything here. I expect realistic results and will strive to try and spot any small movements and twitches to help amplify a basic movement to an expression-filled action. I feel that I have achieved this very well here. Whilst I keep going back and spotting small changes I would have preferred, I am satisfied with the outcome.

So overall, I'm happy with the 3D project. The music takes to another level, and I was exceptionally pleased to see 'Reefer Man' fit the opening scene so well. I've also managed to overcome my fear of organic modelling somewhat, and am more open to creating a host of different characters instead of robots.

Thanks for reading. All the best

- Steve A.K.A. Captain Pineapple -

The Finished Result

Alas my friends... but the final rendered video comes in at a whopping 500mg. As a result, I'm not able to upload it on here (The limitation is 100mg). I will see if I can find some sort of way to compress the file... but I still can't understand how a smaller resolution makes for a larger file size (Individually each file is only about 50mg each)

Either way, I'm going to make do with what I have. So here are the rendered versions of each of the 4 scenes. Yes, there's no sound - But the animation is all here for your enjoyment.

Scene 1: Rock-Paper-Scissors

Scene 2: Game - Start

Scene 3: Game - Middle

Scene 4: Game - Last

Putting it all together

The final stages involved a general clean-up and then putting the animation together.

After giving the videos a basic render, they were watched over and over for inaccuracies and problems. Interestingly, there were several, none of which are immediately obvious the first time you watch it. This is, of course, down the fact that your attention is more fixed on the key character movements. It's only when you've seen it a few times that you spot things like Kris' tie passing through a wooden table. So I went back over the animation and re-rendered them with the updated changes.

With the final batch of 4 videos... the only thing left was to stick them together with the appropriate fades between scenes

Enter Adobe Premiere!

Other then a fade-to/from-black at either end, and a fade from one scene to the other - Nothing fancy was added to the visual side of the animation. The main priority was getting everything together.

After I had a final version of the finished video now under my belt (And backed up on several sources!), it was time to start considering potential sounds or music.

Though I intially considered mumblings and sound effects - The problem was the lack of actual dialogue between the characters. The sounds wouldn't actually add much other than some weird grumbles... which seemed weak and wouldn't help to 'enhance' the overall effect.

Taking the video to others, a brilliant idea was suggested: Jazz Music! It's light enough to be gentle for the scene, yet upbeat and 'playful' enough to be jolly (As opposed to being calming and sleep-inducing). I was pointed to Bix Beiderbecke as a starting point. Luckily, the first song I came upon did it for me. His piece: 'Singin the Blues' was played alongside the chess animation, and it worked perfectly! It was upbeat yet gentle, and matched the mood. Doing this would also rendered the mutters and grumbles unneccessary, as it worked well purely on its own.

I knew I wanted the music to cut out as Carl smacked the board though, as it was just the sort of "off-beat" action to warrant that the music cuts out instantly. It was time to adorn some of the key movements with sound effects!

Luckily for me, I was finally in possession of a microphone, so was able to spend as long as I needed sitting at my desk making sounds until I felt that they were perfect. The first port of call was the sound of the pieces flying off the table. Though I did not have a full-sized chess board on me, I did have a pack of dice. Though not necessarily the same sound, it was a sufficient replacement. So for the next 20 minutes I started smacking the box of dice across the desk until I had a sound that resembled what chess pieces flying off a board would be like. The length of the sounds were key. I needed the initial cacophany of the pieces all cascading, then needed a few to still keep rolling for a few seconds longer. After a lot of trial and error (and crawling over the floor to retrieve dice that rolled under the bed), I had a good sound.

Last thing left was to take care of the start. 'Singin The Blues' worked well for the chess match, but felt very out of place on the initial chaos and action. As I pondered what to do with the opening scene, I recorded the main sound effects for the actions (The sounds of a clicking finger, hi-5 and making an exaggerated sound for the 'Rock'), and located a nice slamming sound from last year to accompany the slams of the arms in the opening rock-paper-scissors match. They matched the movements nicely... but felt very bare without music.

It was fortunate then, that I have an unusual bunch of friends. Several months ago, one of them forwarded me a link to a really weird Flash video called "Dad's Home" (It's brilliant: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/195918). Luckily for me, the opening music is a piece of upbeat and almost insane Jazz. After watching it, the music got stuck in my head. And it was lucky that it re-appeared as I was doing this, as it fit the opening scene brilliantly.

So I went back and located a portion of Cab Calloway's "Reefer Man", and tried it out. I started it playing as soon as the camera zoomed out, to create an 'anti-climactic' moment... and to be really honest, it worked so well. It was such a brilliant tension breaker.

Working the final tweaks to the volumes - The finished product was exported, and I was done!

Day 8: Finishing Game - Last

The climax to the animation perhaps hosts the greatest range of emotions. More playing with the morpher sliders!

The opening scene has Kris with a fairly neutral face, while Carl's now looking somewhat defeated already. Carl only needed his eyes closed and a slight 'pout' applied. Everything else had been taken care of by the body language.

Kris' analysis of the board proved yet more opportunity to pull his eyes about. Once again, his right eye took dominance as it scanned the board more closely.

The above expression only required both eyelids to be thrown open (Some of the 'Shock' morpher was also used so that he opened his mouth). Snapping the eyes wide took care of most of the expression for this part.

Kris does a good job of looking smug. As before, combining a smile with lowered eyelids seems to work wonders. The eyes were also lowered to emphasise the level of comfort.

Much like Kris - Carl's shock only really required a gaping mouth and for both eyes to be thrown wide open. This time, however, Carl also had the 'Raised' eyebrow morpher to help exaggerate the expression.

Throwing the 'Raised' to 'Frown' was pretty much all I needed to change Carl from shocked to angry.

As he smacks the board, Carl holds an incredibly petulant face. Keeping in tune with the lack of movement of his body, Carl's expression does not change as he hits the board (He doesn't even blink). Kris, on the other hand is given somewhat of a shocked expression, as his eyes also flinch and retract further backwards.

In the closing stages, we finally see Carl with a smile again. He's finally able to use the "Yeah" expression that was originally saved for his victory dance. Kris only required a slight pout to show his disapproval. And with this, the expressions and smaller details were now completed.

Day 7: Finishing Game - Middle

Now the big expressions were starting to break out! 'Game - Middle' had a lot more than just pondering-moving, so opened the door for a host of expressions to run free.

Carl's mulling combined no fewer than 7 different morpher targets. Throughout his mumbling, the parameters of them all were just thrown about randomly as if a small child had found its way onto a Mixing Desk and was randomly pushing all of the buttons and changing the switches. The effect was ideal. A lot of contorting, thinking and squinting. Who knows what he was mumbling under his breath... most likely profanities at his animator.

A love this face! Kris looks well and truly smug here, which coincides perfectly with the casual 'flick' motion he does. The key to this expression is his eyes. They're at such a level that they convey confidence with comfort. They're relaxed, yet bear a hint of arrogance. It's odd how a small facial movement conveys so much.

A face-palm would not be a face-palm without the closing of the eyes and a sigh.

Kris' decisive capture left him wide-eyed and with another smile on his face. It's like a small child a Christmas.

Carl's mix of expressions worked well here. Combining the Frown, closed eyes and 'Err' mouth movement - Carl looked pretty annoyed. Kris kept his smile, funnily enough.

Day 6: Finishing Game - Start

The first scene saw lots of smaller twitching, but the lack of major moves meant that expressions weren't major in this section.

Kris' eyes played a large role for his move with the Knight. As he carefully moves it, his right eye lowers and squints slightly. This helped create the effect that he was being precise. Throughout the animation, I decided that the right eye would be his dominant, and would frequently be the eye that moves in for closer inspection, whilst the left would remain behind.

Carl's teeth were given a bit more screen-time with him chewing his lip over his next move. His eyes also scanned over the pieces to see which one would be best to move. His antennae also twitched nervously.

Carl's next move was the Queen. This time, he squinted slightly as he mumbled to himself. As an added effcet, when he lifted his hand from the queen and paused, I made him squint slightly again, to show that the cogs are well and truly whirring in Carl's head. It was in this expression that separating the right and left eye paid off (He squinted more with one eye, which seemed to have greater effect than if both squinted equally)

The scene ends with both looking fairly content. The only real problem I spotted was Kris' shoulder during the castle. Sadly, the bones had contorted it into quite a disfigured shape, but that was more a fault of the envelopes and mesh, so was ignored. Luckily, the camera angle allowed the King to perfectly cover up this unsightly twist in the mesh.

Day 5: Finishing Rock-Paper-Scissors

After a nice 4 day break from looking at the scene, it's time to go back and add in the finer details. I've thrown in lots of smaller twitches and reactions, so the following will just cover the main ones. Carl, in particular, is the most expressive with his face - whereas Kris works his from his eyes.

The first sight of reactions are in the immediate aftermath of the Rock-Paper-Scissors Match. After losing, carl scowls and opens his mouth in a "Damn!" sort of effect. Kris, on the other hand, cheers and closes his eyes in celebration.

In addition to grumpily dragging the stool towards him, Carl was also made to mutter and grumble to himself, still keeping the frown from before. Kris, on the other hand, lowered his eyes and smirked as he wagged his finger victoriously.

The Hi-5 sequence saw the only other main realm of expressions. Not only did Carl cheer up, but he started grinning too. Kris' eyes also 'jolted' as they performed the 'Rock', to create the illusion of the shock when the fists collide. Carl now was at least smiling, which is never a bad thing.

Day 4: Animating Game - Last

And we now draw into the concluding moves. Again, the camera angle is exactly the same as when we left our 2 aliens in the last scene. This time, Carl is now covering his head with both his arms (The 'Clasp', now ticked off from the gesture checklist), and even starts shaking his head at the severity of his weak position. Kris, on the other hand, is now leaning forward confidently (and claiming a lot of space on the table now, which is also a confident and powerful gesture). The final board layout was found from Checkmate puzzles (Puzzles that require you to checkmate in 1 move). I needed to be quite picky here, as I needed the captured pieces to not contradict the previous scene (i.e. 2 Rooks when he lost one of them), and the checkmate needed to occur from Kris' side of the board (Due to arm-length restrictions). Luckily, I found a good Bishop-Queen Checkmate that can catch the King from the other side of the board.

The key gesture for Kris is to twiddle the captured queen in his hand. This part took a lot of tweaking, and was done in 5-frame steps (To keep everything ordered and uncluttered). Looking at the reference video, the chap held the top-part of the piece (Leaving a short piece above where he gripped) between the thumb and forefinger. Using his other fingers, he pushed the piece in a full half-circle (With the little finger sneaking behind it to push the short-end down), so that he was now holding the piece upside down with his index finger and thumb holding the bottom. Due to the height of the queen, Kris couldn't immediately start the loop again - so what happens next is that he loosens the grip on the thumb and forefinger, causing the piece to slip back down into the original position (Albeit the piece is now upside down). The finger-movement frames were then simply duplicated with the relevant Queen motions added in afterwards - And there we have the all-important 'Twiddling' movement completed.

Placing the piece down, Kris crosses his arm across his side the desk and surveys the board for his move. As he scans, he suddenly spots the winning move, and proceeds to Check-Mate Carl.

To allow the player to see the victory, the camera rotates above the players to give a bird's-eye shot of the winning move. The move is further emphasised with a red line appearing, highlighting the checkmate. For the chess-savvy among us, you will also notice that the check-mate is indeed genuine. From here, Kris sits back smugly and folds his arms.

Shocked at his defeat, Carl looks around in panic, hoping to see a way out. Clearly this is not possible, and he shakes his fist in anger at the loss. However, he quickly composes himself and performs another quick facepalm. He then looks up at the table, as the camera pans back out to its original starting position (Where you can see both players). A dramatic pause then ensures. Then...

BAM! Carl smacks the board (and its pieces) off of the table. For effect, this is an exceptionally quick motion, and the rest of his body remains perfectly still. Kris, on the other hand, retracts away from the incoming pieces, obviously flinching in the face of this unusual move. This section took a lot longer to make, as I had to move each piece manually (yes, I keyframed each and every piece flying off the table). Due to the length of the arms, I couldn't get Carl to hit the board cleanly enough for the Reactor to react properly. I also lacked a floor for the pieces to land on. So though the reactor might have saved time, it would be too unpredictable for my liking... and I needed to board and pieces to fly off in a specific way. So I made a strong coffee and worked my way through it, piece by piece. To be honest, I'm glad I keyframed them manually. At least now the board and pieces flew off perfectly, rather than risking them fly off at an unusual angle or not even move much at all.

The animation finishes with Carl proudly snapping his fingers at Kris, who puts his hands on his hips in a disgruntled manner and shakes his head. I wanted him to just shake his eyes (The body staying still), but couldn't seem to make the movements look like a shake of the head (Most of the time, it just looked like he was waving his eyes about for no reason!) - In the end, I settled upon him shaking his entire body in disapproval, much like Carl at the start of the scene.

So that's the worst of it done. The core animations, movements and camera work are now in place. The next step, though considerably less taxing, is just as important: The expressions and details. All the subtle facial movements, even down the eyes, are what will really add character to this.

Day 3: Animating Game - Middle

The introduction to the second scene is from exactly the same camera angle as the first one left (Thus, the only change in the 'fade' is the characters and the pieces - Using the old trick of using the fade as a sign of passed time).

So the scene opens with Carl now leaning forward, resting his head on his hand, and the other nervously resting on the table. Kris on the other hand is a lot more laid back. I tried to get him to adopt the 'pinkie' pose, but in moving him around, found it looked better to have him scratching the top of his head (Which is only a few inches above his mouth anyway), looking into space whimsically waiting for Carl. To be honest, the longest stage of this was to re-arrange the board for a mid-game scenario. Luckily, I found a good setup from browing random images of mid-game boards, so just had to move the pieces around accordingly. Luckily, none of the pieces had been captured in the previous shot, so continuity wasn't a major factor here. The only thing I tweaked was to place a rook in direct line of Kris' attacking bishop, to allow him to make a decisive capture a few moves in.

Carl's action alone took up around half of the scene. He lazily waves his hand over the board, mulling to himself and pondering which piece to move. His hand 'drags' behind his wrist too, to emphasise the laziness of the move. The 'drag' effect can be made by offsetting the key-frames. Assuming that the arm is moved to the left and then the right in 10 frame increments - You keyframe the hand to make the same movements... and then push it all 5 frames ahead. This means that as the arm moves, the hand lags behind it and starts to move after a delay (i.e. the force finally drags it into motion). As the arm reaches the end and moves the other way, the hand still moves in the initial direction, until it is 'snapped' back the other way 5 frames later. This little offset gives a brilliant impression of 'drag'.

At last! The 'flick' saw light! The angle and Kris' initial pose created a perfect setup. Leaning sideways slightly as he pondered, Kris confidently moves one of his rooks forward, and then throws in the sly 'flick' as the end. I'm glad to say it came out perfectly. I don't know why the move signifies confidence, but in the renders he looks exceptionally smug - Which is exactly the impression I wanted to put across.

Face-Palm! Now an internet fad, the well-known motion of pressing the palm of your hand against your face in exasperation. Though Carl was meant to cup his nose... turning the motion into a full blown face-palm worked so much better. Now stuck on what to do, Carl drags his entire hand over his face, and then makes a quick "this'll do" move. Essentially making a move for the point of making a move. He looks away afterwards, to signify his complete disinterest in his move - Hopefully, it's clear that he isn't very confident about his latest move.

The stroking-chin motion was then checked off the list, as Kris stroked his whilst analysing the board. Spotting the capture, he knocks Carl's rook over with the Bishop. Ideally, Kris was to physically take it (With the sort of finger-play motion created for the 'Castle') - But distance again proved a problem. As a result - I could only get Kris to flick the bishop in order to knock over the rook. To have him capture the piece would pretty much require him to stand up and climb onto the table.

The scene ends with carl angrily hitting the table, and Kris pulling another quick victory motion (This time it's what my dad used to call the 'Flushing the Chain' motion, poking fun at how the motion resembles flushing the toilet when it was activated by a chain.) Basically Kris raises his forearm, clenches his fist and makes a quick downwards motion - Man, why do the simple gestures require such detailed explanations...

Day 2: Animating Game - Start

'Game - Start' was the longest part of the animtion. It had the greatest number of moves (In order to allow Kris to perform the all-important Castle!). The camera would alternate between each Alien as they played their move. The immediate 'snap' of the camera was created by simply keyframing the 2 positions immediately after eachother. In theory, the camera pans around from one alien to the other, but does this in 1 frame, so it gives the illusion of 'cutting' to them.

Kris' first move saw him deftly raising his hand and moving a piece forward. The animation of it was simple enough... but I spotted another large problem: Their arms were too short to reach across the board! Though their arms appeared proportionally correct on themselves, the scene was too large and they could only move to around the 4th row if I really stretched them. Immediately, my scope of possible moves was limited! I could get away with it so long as I kept their moves towards their side of the board.

Carl's move was another quick-and-easy intro. From his lazy position at the end of the previous scene, he leans in forward and boldly moves the knight. I wanted him to cross both arms over, but it looked more natural to just have him just rest one on the table and leave the other free to do the moving.

Kris then moves the knight forward. I added a bit of extra character to it, by making him move it in a very co-ordinated manner. He gently lifts it up and delicately places it down, whilst raising his other hand slightly. It worked nicely to create the impression he was being very careful.

Before Carl moved the pawn, I had him survey the table to consider the best move. Luckily, his right arm was in good view, so I had him drum his fingertips on the table as he planned. He then grabs the pawn and pushes it forward. He then holds it for a while, considering letting go (In chess rules, you can take a move so long as you're still holding the piece you moved)

Like Carl, Kris also quickly scans the board, and then boldly moves his pawn forward, dragging it as he does so. I admit, I was quite lucky on this one. Whilst shifting the cameras around, I found a more suitable angle, but did not key-frame the original one! Turns out that the new effect worked well. As the camera looked at Kris, it gently moved (To moved to the new angle) whilst he planned. The gentle move actually seemed to work brilliantly, so I kept it in. It was certainly a well-received stroke of good fortune.

Before Carl moved his Queen (As per the script) - I decided to throw in another gesture from the reference photos, and have him hover his hand over the Queen, mulling to himself. He then proceedes to gently take the queen and move her forward. Afterwards, he gingerly withdraws his arm and pauses slightly, in doubt, before we cut back to Kris.

Kris then moves the Bishop. Nothing special here, it was more of a 'Filler' move. I decided to leave out the 'Pinkie' motion - As it didn't appear very suitable at this time. Personally, it would be more realistic later on in the match when Kris had a lot more plotting to do. You'll also notice that Carl's arm is raised in preparation for his next move (Explained below). In the final animation, his mesh was hidden so you were not able to see his arm in the shot.

Carl's move was also a filler, but I decided to liven it up somewhat. Breaking the pattern of current camera angles, I zoomed in up close to the knight, which he boldly slams down, causing the other pieces to jolt slightly at the force of the movement. It was a simple little move that was a nice 'break' from flicking between the 2 aliens.

The close-up worked really nicely for Carl, so I decided to break the script (again) and keep the close-up for the Castle. I wanted to emphasise the fingerplay of the move, so it made sense for the viewer to actually be able to see it close up. As a result, I also decided to drop the 'flick' until later on, as it wouldn't have been particularly clear from this angle. Personally, the castle went very well initially.... but before going to sleep I realised I had made a blunder. In a castle: The king is moved next to the rook, and the rook is then placed on the other side of him... What I had done was swap the King and the Rook, so they they took eachother's original places - which is completely wrong. The inner-geek in me wouldn't allow me, so I had to go back and change it. Luckily, I only needed to tweak the motion of the forearm and the pieces. The original fingerplay still worked cleanly.

The close to the scene brought us back to the original shot. Both returned to faily neutral stances

Day 1: Animating Rock-Paper-Scissors

Onwards! My computer is, sadly, starting to shows its age and complained about animating the models with the meshes included. It would work fine, but had a slight lag to it - slowing down the entire process and losing the fluidity of the animation I'm comfortable with (After all, it's easier to create cleaner animations when everything moves smoothly!). As a result, I decided to hide the body mesh and work with just the bones. The core animations would obviously come from just moving these, but I now lacked details of how the mesh would exactly match. Working half-blind, I had to hope my enveloping was clean, and frequently unhid the meshes at various intervals to see the effects of the bones. On the bright side - I could now run 3DS Max at full speed and had more scope to create a wider variety of clean moves. So before I could start, I had the set up the scene and initial poses.

The first step was the all-important Rock-Paper-Scissors game. The stances didn't require major changes to the 'action' stances shown here. Kris was given a somewhat empowering stance, whilst Carl got away with a lazy standing posture. Because the camera would only focus on their arms and hands, the rest of their bodies remained motionless for the first bit. After Kris' hand slams down, the camera panned out the above view (Bottom-Left is the Camera window), where the 2 charcaters suddenly come to life and react to the game.

Kris is happy (obviously), so pulls a few celebratory moves. He punches the air, clenches his fists in a "Yes!" motion... and then I threw in an odd motion that was big around my School when I did my A-Levels: He wags his finger victoriously. You basically point your index finger upwards, and then lazily wave your hand forward and back. It looks silly, but it's just this sort of weird gesture that friends use between eachother, which I wanted to incorporate. Kris and Carl are buddies. I want them to be good mates and not just 2 aliens at a chess board. So I wanted to throw in a few of these to show a 'connection' for want of a better word. Kris' movement was easy...

Carl, however, posed a few problems. I wanted him to angrily click his finger and then pull his chair in and pretty much sulk. The clicking of the finger was easy - Throw is arm across his body and violently move his head forward very quickly. This gave the impression of a quick 'Dammit!' moment. This part was fine, however, as shown in the above picture: The next bit was my least favourite. Obviously in a sulk, I needed Carl do drag the chair across in a huff. I couldn't have him suddenly calm down and delicately pull his chair in. No, he needed to drag the chair in with his foot. Whilst this might not sound difficult, getting the foot to correctly hook the chair and pull it in realistically took a lot of tweaking (Not to mention making it look comfortable, and not as if he's contorting himself!)

The next step was Kris rotating the board so he could play as white. Carl would slump forward and rest on his hand - Nice and easy. Kris' moving of the board didn't actually prove very difficult. All I did was move his hands how I thought they should move (By acting this out on my desk repeatedly) and then moved the board accordingly. It took 3 loops to finally move the board around... not helped by the fact that Carl's arm got in the way too! So I also had to have him lazily lift it out of the way. The only thing I needed to change here was to group the board and chess pieces. If left individually, they would rotate around their own axis (Causing the board to move, but the pieces to just spin in place). Luckily, grouping them allowed the pieces to move with the board... so I didn't have to animate any of that in! Phew!

On a roll, I had Kris join Carl in taking a seat. Being more 'formal', Kris pulls his in gently and parks himself on it... then I spotted my script and realised that I completely forgot the Hi-5 sequence! I had sat Carl down too early! I ideally needed to keep him standing as Kris moved the board (Though, in hindsight, that would have looked quite unusual. Having him slump was certainly more 'natural'). Instead of going back and changing (Which could potentially throw off all the timing!), I decided to alter the script slightly and have both of them sit down, ready - And do a "Oh yeah, we have to do our secret handshake! It's what we always do". I simply project my absent-mindedness onto those 2

So I stood Kris up again, extending out his hand - To which Carl cheers up and follows suit. They then proceed to Hi-5. Now initially, I wanted them to Hi-5 and Low-5 (Basically one Hi-5's the other and then they reverse the position of their hands), but it was when it came to this section that I realised a sudden limitation: My characters were too far away! They couldn't get their arms close enough properly slap eachother's palms. In lieu of this: I changed their secret hand-shake to a "Side-5" (Taking the hand-shake gesture, they Hi-5 with their palms and then reverse this by Hi-5'ing the backs of their hands). Though they would only properly connect with their fingers, it would far easier to mask this than a generic Hi-5 would. So I opened their hands and executed the move. The key to adding 'energy' to this was to rotate the bodies along with the arm motions. Just moving the arms would have looked lackluster. From the 2 side-5's, they would then come out and do another silly old-school gesture. I have no idea what it's called, but I'll just call it the 'Rock'. It's the really stupid gesture where 2 people hit their clenched fist against the other's. Normally done when saying "Respect". No, I don't get it either.... but it's cheesey enough to work perfectly for these 2!

GThe animation was finished with both taking a seat (again!) and preparing for the first move. Kris rubs his hands together excitedly and Carl lazily swings his arm by his side.

Putting it all together

With the final plan in place: It was time to get cracking! I had 8 days to do this in. The first step, of course, was to arrange the entire scene and set it up so that I could begin animating right-away.

And here it is - Carl and Kris with their army of Morpher Targets (Which, of course, would be hidden). The chess pieces were imported, cloned and set up accordingly on the chess board (A simple square with the Checkered pattern applied to it). The table was quickly thrown together with some basic shapes and painted with a nice wooden texture made last year. The stools are just shrunken-down versions of the table. I also applied 'Helpers' to the fingers of the 2 aliens, allowing them to clench all their fingers with a simple rotation of the Helper (It would simultaneously rotate all 3 bones in the finger). Their thumbs were, however, not included, as I wanted a greater amount of control over them. With the morpher targets now applied, the bones enveloped and the plot ready... it was time to begin!

Script

With the motions now decided, and the components ready, it was time to start plotting the script for the 2 aliens, including all movements and behaviours. I now had a list of actions to attempt to incorporate, which were to act as a checklist, in addition to any other behaviours I felt would be appropriate.

I stumbled upon my first problem almost immediately: How do I open the scene?

I couldn't picture a good way of introducing the scenario. Just fading in with those 2 in a chess match seemed incredibly lackluster, and felt like too much of a 'jump' (You load the video and immediately see a game going. I felt that the audience needed a stronger 'intro'). In the PC Game 'Age of Empires 2 - Age of Kings', they were able to introduce a chess match between 2 kings by moving the camera towards them, as if someone was walking into the room to find them locked in a match. However, the strength of this approach was the scenery. The creators had a doorway to walk through, and the scene was set with a roaring fire behind them... I lack both.

After sleeping on it, I woke with an interesting idea to 'kick start' the intro. The viewer would catch the 2 aliens in a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors (To decide who is white - i.e. Who goes first). The intro would be a lot more hard-hitting than entering mid-game. All the player would see is a blank screen, only for a hand taking 'Scissors' to slam down, followed by a cut to the other side to see a hand in 'Rock' slamming down too. From here, the scene would immediately pan out to reveal 2 aliens over a chess board. It would be a nice little anti-climax from a very "in-your-face" intro. To add a bit more fun and to show their 'friendship', the 2 would also have a little Hi-5 sequence (Y'know... a secret handshake!) just before they started.

Personally, this seemed like a very strong start. Now, a chess game requires a lot of moves... and even played quickly, it can last quite a long time. So showing the entire game from start-to-checkmate was out of the question. The logical step was therefore to break the video into 'scenes'. Each showing a different segment of the game (Start, Middle, End), and as the aliens would play, the next 'scene' would fade over the top of the previous one (A common video effect to signify the passing of time). Additionally, this meant that I didn't have to plan the exact moves of an entire game, which was certainly handy!

Looking at the new plan - I could see the animation was setting itself up to last quite a while... as a result, I decided to scrap the victory dance. The collection of behaviours and expressions of the chess game and the initial stages would suffice. It seemed strongest to focus on making the chess game as engrossing as possible, rather than skimming over it to create a dance routine. An over-the-top victory dance plus several chess moves would just go on for too long. Besides, I had a better idea for the end of the video...

So the video was now broken into 4 sections: Intro (Rock-Paper-Scissors), Game - Start, Game - Middle and Game - Last. (It seemed more logical for continuity purposes to have a part on mid-game, rather than start a game and jump straight to the checkmate)

It was at this point that I decided to come up with an 8-day plan to complete the Animation over the Easter Holiday. Devote just over a week to it and get it finished. I would go over the 4 sections twice: First time around, I would animate the bones and critical movements. I would then go over all 4 again, and add in the facial expressions, intricate movements and final details. This little plan allowed me to focus on its completion without rushing it. I would have sufficient time during the day to work on each, yet have enough time off to recover for the next day's activities.

And so, I scribbled down the moves and associated actions which would act as the guide:

Game - Start

- Begins after both aliens sit down after the secret handshake:

Move #1 - Kris raises his hand, ready to make the first move, and proceedes to deftly move a pawn forward

Move #2 - Carl leans forward, crossing his arms in the process, and bold moves his knight

Move #3 - Kris also moves his Knight forward (Generic Move - Clearing the path for Kris to execute a 'Castle' - Which is basically a chess move that looks fancy)

Move #4 - Carl looks around the board, drumming his fingers, and proceedes to move a pawn forward

Move #5 - Kris moves a second pawn forward, and does so confidently (Instead of deftly lifting it, he brashly pushes the piece forward)

Move #6 - Gently taking hold of the Queen (Like in the Reference Photo), Carl nervously pushes it forward, though is somewhat doubtful

Move #7 - Kris moves the bishop forward, and leans back to adopt the 'Pinkie' pose as shown in the reference photos

Move #8 - Carl moves another piece (Generic Move)

Move #9 - Kris performs a 'Castle' (King is swapped with the Rook). This is a nice, intricate finger-play motion. The aim will be to have Kris hold the King between the thumb and forefinger, move it across and take hold of the rook with his pinkie and ring finger. He then places the king down and puts the rook on the other side of it. He then finishes this move with a confident 'flick' (It's a gesture I've occasionally seen, particularly in Scrubs by Dr Cox, where you deftly run your hand by your face, quickly brushing your index finger by the tip of your nose/lips). I don't understand why it happens - But it's a very stylish gesture of confidence.

--- Fade ---

Game - Middle

--- Fade ---

- The scene fades in with Carl resting on one hand, and Kris still in the 'pinkie' pose from the previous scene

Move #1 - Lazily moving his free hand, Carl hovers it around the board as he considers his next move, and eventually settles on a simple move. He's not overly confident about it, and sees it more as a 'move to kill time' until a stronger move is available

Move #2 - Stroking his chin and contemplating for a bit, Kris then leans forward and boldly makes his next move

Move #3 - Now unsure about his strategy: Carl performs the 'Cupped Nose' gesture from the reference pictures, brushes past his chin and then quickly makes a rash move

Move #4 - Scratching his chin and surveying the match: Kris sees his opportunity and captures one of Carl's pieces

- Scene ends with Carl scowling and looking away, with Kris smiling

--- Fade ---

Game - Last

--- Fade ---

- The scene now sees Carl clasping his forehead, leaning forward and shaking his head. He is clearly in a bas position. Kris is confidently sitting forward, twiddling Carl's captured Queen in his hand.

Move #1 - Kris looks around, and spots the Checkate move. He makes the move and then confidently sits back, folding his arms

- Carl sighs and slumps back in his chair. As he surveys the board, he spots something. He then looks up and squints at Kris.

After a pause, Carl suddenly smacks the board off of the table, and then confidently clicks his finger at Kris in a sort of "Ha! Beat that!" gesture, as Kris puts both his hands on his hips and shakes his head in disapporval.

Reference Photos

Nearly ready to animate. The most important step now was to create a plan for the chess match. There's a lot of scope for different moves, fidgetting and twitches... so it helped to have a vague idea of how it'd play out. What I decided upon was to watch through all the reference videos again, and to pick out the key behaviours/actions I wanted to incorporate. As I would plan the scripts and moves, I would work these key movements in. This would allow me to efficiently work in as much character as possible, and essentially "tick off" all the boxes of the different movements and behaviours within one video. Here's the key actions I decided to choose from:

Bridge

The bridge is essentially clasping the forehead with the sides of the hands, allowing the fingers to rest on top, as the thumb supports the area just below the areas. It's a good sign of frustration or deep concentration. It allows the chess player to lean in close.

Clasp

This is essentially an extension from the above. Only the fingers now almost 'close' over the forehead, and is a sign of deeper concentration/anxiety.

Covering the Ears

This is perhaps the easiest verion of the above 2 to create. The heads of both Carl and Kris are quite large in comparison to their hands - Potentially making bridging quite difficult to pull off. So if all else fails, I'll be resorting to this one: resting the head on the palms of the hands, as the fingers snake up and over the ears

Cupping the Nose

Cupping the nose is an interesting one to incorporate. Whilst the distinct lack of nose in both characters makes this somewhat difficult to pull off, the motion is certainly useful. The action of the character bringing their hand over their face and cupping it as it goes from their nose, so that their fingers and thumb almost brush down their cheeks, is definitely a good sign of nerves or frustration.

Folded Arms

Though not 'clasped', the casual folding of the arms as the player leans forward is a good sign of comfort. It also leaves the upper arm free to move easily (Rather than having to unfold the arms)

Hover

Hovering the hand over the piece whilst 'dabbling' over which piece to move is a nifty little action to use. As the player hovers, they also seem to slightly open/close their hand as they're thinking. This one is a definite to use.

Leaning In

Simply leaning in to get a better look, uninhibited by the arms. If all else fails with the bridging... I'll resort to this.

Pinkie over the lip

This is a nice, fun one to use. It's interesting how the player uses their little finger to cover their mouth. This is also great for casually making a move from. From here, nonchalantly lift the hand, make the move and then return to the above pose. It'd be a good sign of calmness for the animation.

Resting on the Palm

Leaning on one arm is a good, well-known gesture, and would be a lot easier to pull off than the bridge. This is a pretty versatile gesture, and can be used to nervously cover the mouth, or perhaps lean to one side on (Signifying boredom or discomfort)

Holding the Pawn

In the above picture, the pawn is grasped with a lot of 'force' and is almost engulfed. From here, the move can be a lot more determined and confident.

Holding the Queen

In contrast to the above: The Queen is held a lot more delicately than the pawn. The movement has a lot more finesse and appears more calculated.

Twiddling a chess piece in your fingers

This is a must! Deftly twiddling a chess piece is a nice little nervous habit (Or confident gesture) to incorporate, much like drumming fingers on the table. Personally, this lends itself nicely to Kris, being more 'calculated' and 'deft', it suits his character far better than Carl.