Robot Arm Assigment (Blocking)

This animation is in blocking (for my non-animator friends, that means that only the most basic and essential poses have been put in). So while not a failure, it sure isn't where I want it. Yet. So I have 4 seconds to tell the story I want to tell.

1. Arm moves to can.
2. Arm picks up can.
3. Arm rotates to block and places the can on the block.
4. Arm nudges the can into position.

What I want is for the arm to do these grand arcs, but the claw to do these little flourishes. The arm will go up and over, and the claw won't move until a split second before it gets to the can. So I actually didn't start the rotation of the claw until frame 25 (1 second in). What I may do is have it spin 450 degrees to add some emphasis to that action. It's not a necessary movement, but it will make things more interesting, I think.



So once it grabs the can I'm having it slow down a bit to reflect the additional weight of the can. I'd like to slow it down more, but I want the nudge at the end and I only have 100 frames to play with. If I have to make concession, the nudge will come out and I'll slow down the timing between points B and C. Lesson: You're given an inch, don't take a mile.


It's tempting to go ahead and do more. I can refine now and do some in betweens to get the movement and timing more to my liking, but I think that'll just be a bad habit to get into. I may have time now, but down the road if a director/animation supervisor wants to see a blocking pass, I'll have wasted time if they don't like the blocking at all. As it is, this isn't much of an investment of time or energy. I can go back and redo some keys or even scrap it and start over without blinking. If I had spent a bunch of time on this, I would quickly become frustrated at having to redo part or all of it. Lesson: Don't put the baby into the bath water right away.


I'll see how things look next week. This lesson is as much about restraint as it is blocking a basic animation. At this point, it's the former that is the most difficult.

Framed

"The Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." ~Lao Tzu


"Nothing shortens a journey so pleasantly as an account of misfortunes at which the hearer is permitted to laugh." ~Quentin Crisp

Just recently, I started studying animation with AnimationMentor.com. I'm currently enrolled in the Maya Springboard Course for Animators. I begin regular curriculum in June. I'm feeling all sorts of things about this whole adventure: excitement (to say the least), trepidation, guilt, elation, frustration, you name it. Some peers have said blogging during AM isn't a bad way to organize your thoughts, show off your work, and network with other animators. So -I thought- What the heck!

But I needed a focus. Showing off work is all well and good. Everyone wants to show off their best work. But what about their worst? Hmmm. There's possibilities there. So, I'm going to try to show off the work that has taught me the most: the failures. I think occassionally I'll show where those lessons have led, and post a success every now and again.

I have to thank my current mentor, Jeff Rapess for the name of this blog: he's been ill recently and his class (my class) dubbed it "the spline flu". I thought it was clever enough to use without attribution. But seriously, I can't remember who said it.

If I'm a success out of the gate, I'm sad to say that this blog will be lacking for content. I would lying if I said I wish that weren't the truth of things to come. But I know it won't work out exactly that way, so I'm sure I'll post my first "sick" animation soon.