Cloth test

A short cloth test. For the dress of the dancer. This is just a single render-pass, the background is composited. I`m still not entirely satisfied with the final look. The dynamics is fine, but additional post-processing will probably improve the look. At least now I know the nCloth module of maya works at a acceptable speed. And setting up the cloth is reasonably intuitive.

Designs

I meant to do some animating today, but got distracted in the designs again. What started as a quick model for a plateau (I needed for an animation test) ended in a short research for a style to fit with my machine. This is what resulted from that; a plateau with chainlink top, a cogwheel and a piston:

Although I like it, it somehow seems to Burtonesque and perhaps to fragile to fit with the character. Also, the warped shapes will most likely keep the cogs from interlinking properly. The chainlinks will find their way to the final design, I`m sure of that. The previous design evolved as well last week, but I forgot to post it. A shot of the base and of the first two joints:

First moving stuff

At last I got around to actually animating some stuff for the project. This is still a test-run of the rig and getting myself familiar again with the maya way of animating. No intense movement here. Main thing I noticed, is that I am gonna need A LOT of practice. Maya animation is sortof the other way around as, well perhaps most comparable, puppet animation. In stead of manipulating the puppet from the torso outward (to the fingertips for example) you manipulate the extremeties...which means a lot of tweaking so that it seams she is moving on her own rather than that the hands seem to have a will of their own. Perhaps maya animation is better compared to actual puppetry with the strings and stuff. These are just some thoughts I keep in mind and perhaps can use or exagerate in the next tests.
The design is heavily inspired by the gorgeous film `Pas de Deux` from Norman Mclaren.

In other news: Paper owns!

Some time ago, I got this totally wicked origami-book "Works of Satoshi Kamiya 1995-2003". Kamiya is like, a total origami master and he makes the most beautiful stuff. Be sure to google him. And while you`re at it, check Eric Joisel as well.
So I was looking through my bookcase and decided I was finally going to attempt to fold one of his designs myself. Safe to say this a whole different ballgame from the stuff I used to fold like boats, paper planes and the occasional crane. But finally I managed to finish the Eagle Ray design (yay)...at almost 2 times the recommended paper size...
Ayway, here it is (top and bottom view):


As I was folding this, I noticed that the paper I used wasn`t quite suitable for this. I used ordinary sketching paper...the recyled kind (the only paper I had lying around on that size; 25cm square). Which is so coarse it felt like it was breaking on the first folds. Next week I gonna check at the printshop wether they have some finer paper for this.

Machine sketch

Here`s some construction plans for the machine...Still pretty sketchy (...) but I`ll make up the rest of the details as I continue modelling. Oh yeah, the things at the base of the arm are supposed to be cogwheels and NOT flowers...

Change of approach

I was kindoff getting lost in the complexities of meaning I wanted to get into the animation. I had nearly every part of it defined already, leaving so little room for things to just form naturally. This demotivated me, so now its back to the basics. All that I leave standing now, is the machine, the girl and their interactions.
More focus on movement now. For that purpose I made a simple biped-rig. FK and IK controlls both appear in this picture, but an expression hides one or the other set if it doesn`t influence the rig anymore.


...which looks waaaay more complicated in maya`s DAG :]

character developments

dancer
She is the human character, and perhaps a bit shy. She finds herself in a situation that is completely unknown and somewhat ominous to her. She is a captive, her prison two small platforms that support her feet. As the machine moves, she moves. There`s no other choice.
From pure necessity (if she doesn`t move, she will fall), tracing the steps of the machine becomes somewhat of a game. As she steps beside a platform, she is sure that is her end. To her surprise, she is still standing. The robot continues and she is forced to follow. Defiantly she strays from the laid out path of the robot, noticing that it wil correct to catch her. What starts as small deviations at first, becomes her path entirely. She takes the lead and even stops noticing that she is only supported by the two small platforms.
In short, the dancer gets more confindent and takes greater liberty in her movements.

machine
It is the controle, the power. It is a massive construction, imposing. At first it takes very little notice of the dancer. Predefined movements are executed, nothing more. As the dancer improves, a sort of game evolves between the two. She steps beside the platform. Without thinking the robot corrects to catch her. This is also a reflective moment for the robot. It finds, that it has more freedom than just executing the predefined movements. It`s role is now more supportive than leading.
In short, de robot breaks its routinely movements, taking more freedom.