Animation Showcase

Animation Showcase

Yawn of the Dead

The inspiration for this shot is the cheesy horror movies of the 80s.  There is an intentionally quick zoom in timed with the lightning strike as the hand emerges from the ground.  Then we zoom in very slowly to an exhausted character whose face has been obscured up to this point.  Once we are tight in on the character, he quickly stretches upward and the dawn light hits his face, revealing he was just waking up and isn't really any threat to anyone.  

In addition to the skydome that gives the pre-dawn light effect, I also added purple and green directional lights to add a surreal feeling to the first half of the shot.  The dawn light was created with a third, pink directional light, which rotates down to meet his face as he stretches.

Yawn of the Dead (initial concept)

When I came up with the idea for the zombie shot, I had intended to make it something genuinely creepy.  This playblasted early version uses a different, more unsettling rig and there is a jump scare at the end.  Eventually I scrapped this idea in favor of the yawn animation as I felt it was a more charming, interesting shot.

Yawn of the Dead Character Mod

I wanted the character in this shot to be more fun and spooky than actually disturbing and scary, so modified the Leo rig from Wonderwell Studios (https://wonderwellstudios.gumroad.com/l/LeoRig?layout=profile) by changing the color gradient of his skin, removing the hair and changing the eye material to create a more bloodshot effect.

Illusion of Weight Challenge Submission

Earlier this month, CG Spectrum held a contest for students to create a shot demonstrating the Illusion of Weight.  In this submission, the character's car has broken down and he is trying to get it somewhere.  After several efforts, he stops for a break to consider his options, the car continues rolling down the hill and the character scrambles after it.  The main focus here was to create tension and the appearance of physical labor in the body.  

Parkour Shot

This parkour scene was created to like action animations together into one coherent routine.  The character scrambled up a few stairs but overshoots his turn.  He slides a little and catches the barrels to redirect his momentum.  Upon reaching the top of the next set of stairs, he realizes he has hit a dead end.  He steps back, calculates and proceeds to run up two walls and grab a ledge.  The focus here was on smooth character motion so I selected one of the very basic rigs offered at CGS in order to keep things simple.

Pyramid Work

This shot uses the Thep rig from SuigglyRigs (https://squigglyrigs.gumroad.com/l/BzOUJ).  This is another shot that demonstrates weight and character exertion.  The character approaches the large block (presumably the last one missing from the pyramid in the background) and gives it a tug to gauge it's weight.  He then resets his hands and pulls as hard as possible.  In the end, the block does not move.  The character looks frustrated with the stick, and then with the block.  In this shot, I tried to include a lot of small movements in the hands and feet to make the character look more alive.  The lighting is slightly overexposed to give the impression of searing desert heat.