Animation Challenges

For this semester we faced some old challenges from the previous semester as well new challenges before and during install. Some of the major challenges that we faced before install are as follows:

1. SNAPPING/ JERKS IN ANIMATIONS – Our previous semester ended with the need for making the animations smoother as we observed that there were lot of jerks happening during the animations and as well as while transitioning from one animation to another. To fix this issue Niharika worked on making the animations smoother using Maya’s graph editor as well as the show controller software after making observations based on previous semester. The animations went through four iterations this semester after multiple animation tests and reviews.
2. CHARACTER PERFORMANCE – This has been a challenge since the last semester. Since the puppet Tom Foolery is an unknown character and there were no references for how the puppet performed or what character profile he had. We worked on creating the character profile last semester where we ensured that Tom is friendly, funny and tells jokes as another major challenge for us to make an unknown character lovable by the kids and their families. However the animations created last semester lacked the performance and character traits that would make him look more realistic. To overcome this challenge Niharika worked with our creative director Dustin Stephan to create reference videos of him acting out as Tom for different content and they worked together to review the animations during testing on the animatronic as well as in Maya to determine where it lacked performance.

3. TIMING AND SPACING – For the animations timing and spacing is important and it was a challenge to determine the ideal timing for every function and it further became a challenge when we started using different range of motion as if the timing is not ideal then it could cause jerks and snapping which we were trying to fix. To add in the spacing Niharika utilized the graph editor where after completing all the animations she made the animations smoother and add in the performance by changing the spacing and timing on the graph based on the animations and the dialogue.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           USE OF GRAPH EDITOR TO SMOOTH THE CURVES                                                                                                                     
4. NEW CONTENT – We did not think about this before adding the new content, but the addition of new shows created another challenge which was to ensure that all the new shows are consistent with the old shows in terms of smooth animations as well as character performance.
5. TESTING ANIMATIONS – Testing animations became a challenge this semester as since it was just 4 of us on the team and we were working on adding mechanical changes that would make the design more easier to maintain for our client as well as fix issues like resistance from foam, we were not able to test the animations after iteration as sometimes the team was working on assembling the animatronic which was important to ensure that the mechanical changes are implemented correctly since our team this semester lacked a mechanical engineer. Therefore we had to do some animation reviews in Maya instead of on the animatronic.

These were the challenges that we faced before install. Some of the challenges that we faced during install are as follows:

1. CONSISTENT ANIMATIONS – Before leaving for onsite in order to test out the different speeds Niharika had made half of the shows based on the 3^rd iteration of animation (please refer to the blog Animation iterations) and half of the shows based on the 2^nd iteration so that she could test out the animations and lock down the speeds. After testing onsite and finalizing the speed, Niharika had to ensure that there were all the shows were consistent in terms of speed and acceleration as if they were not then it would become a distraction for the audience during the show.
2. TOM’S INTERACTIONS – Since Tom is in interacting with the audience and the volunteers more, we realized that Tom won’t be looking a lot to left side since the audience would be standing in front and the volunteer to the right. Since the crowds also varied as sometimes there would be just 1 or 2 families and sometimes the castle would be crowded. For this challenge Niharika then ensured that Tom looks more towards the volunteer and the audience and looks to the left few times. During our initial tests with Tom on the balcony we determined that he was not looking at the audience and there was no eye contact as the balcony was a bit higher. To fix this issue Alex Gobeler had an amazing feature in her design where we could move the torso a bit up and after we made that change it fixed Tom’s eye contact with the audience and the volunteer. We also had to keep in mind that since the audience mostly comprises of kids shorter in height Tom would be able to bend forward and make eye contact. But Niharika also made sure that Tom would look up and look around if there were family members accompanying the kids so that he could make eye contact with them too.                                                                                                                                            Since Tom is also interacting with other characters in the castle like Joel the troll and Father time, Niharika had to ensure that he looked right at them while interacting or referring to them. Below are the pictures of father time and Joel the troll and the challenge was that Joel is really short in height and Father time is at a greater height. Therefore Niharika had to ensure that Tom would bend forward and look at Joel during the Welcome whereas for Father Time he would not bend forward and would simply tilt his head to interact with him during Goodnight show. This was important for our shows as it would help make the animatronic look more realistic and alive.

3. SCEPTER HITTING THE HEAD- Another issue that we noticed during was that the scepter used to hit the head which would cause Tom’s hat to move out of the place and it would appear as if Tom is hitting his head with the scepter which kind of was a distraction. Therefore to fix this issue Niharika reduced the range and the speed and ensured that there were limited movements of the Scepter towards Tom as he would hit his head only when he would be bending forward and tilting the head at the same time.