Studio 2: animation planning blog post

To create the Rapid Production Animation I firstly reviewed my animatic and wrote down the general times for when shots and movements change.

0:02 sludge comes into frame

0:05 sludge begins to roar

0:06 Sludge comes to a mid point

0:06 Camera shot changes to a Extreme Close Up of sludge's fame.

0:08 Camera shot changes back to the original position

0:10 sludge leans his head back

0:11 sludge leans his head back down

0:12 sludge stops growling

0:14 sludge exits the frame

0:16 Camera shot changes to Long Shot from behind

0:18 Camera dolly's backwards

0:20 Camera continues to dolly and the animation ends

This list of times allowed me to key frame all the general movements in Maya2018 (this being crucial for the Previs).

Once all the cameras are in place, the lights are in working order and all the main keys are keyed in, I begin the animation process.

For this aspect I have a video reference to help me understand how to animate sludge so that he moves in a slime/slug/snail like fashion.

0:23 - 0:26 Red Snail movements.

Although the reference is short and not great, it was the best reference I could find out of multiple I had watched. I like the way the red snail moves in regards to her body staying flat on the ground, however she moves by squashing and stretching.

I also filmed myself (awkward) mouthing the audio track so that I had some reference of how sludge's mouth should move.

I will create Blend shapes according to the general mouth shapes I make to create an accurate representation of facial movements.

Reference

DreamWorksTV. (2013, July 12th). TURBO - "That Snail Is Fast" Official Clip. Refhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZopX05wXH0