Unit 47: 2D Digital Animation for computer games
1. Context - Describe the project (WWWWWH), scenario, its purpose and function your aims and objectives.
At the start of this unit, we were given the option between two similar briefs that follow the same grading criteria. One of which revolved around making a 2D side-scrolling platformer using a series of defining words, i.e; earth, wind or fire. etc
The second brief and the one I decided to proceed with was in the form of a competition, titled, "Art War 2". The competition requires the creation of a character under the theme, "Light versus Dark".
2. Describe how you did your research Research e’g’, Judith Bell, methods, story-board, mood-boards Provide citation within content and references in Harvard Style.
When considering this project I knew I would be incorporating Japanese influences in some form. My current idea is for a Japanese, kitsune (Fox) style, light hero. Below are some quick concepts for the character I've been working on.
The concept I've decided to continue with, I believe, has more of a unique style compared to the taller, more realistic looking design.
My goal from this point is to make a short walk/attack animation. Ideally, I'd like to use a classic style of frame-by-frame animation, although, I realise the classic style is a lot more time consuming and difficult to execute.
3. Problem Solving - Describe the problems you overcome and how you learnt from the process.
After having taken a closer look at the classic frame-by-frame animation style it doesn't seem feasible to make a competent animation within the timeframe while using my current method. I've started looking into vector-based animation. Vector-based animation works by rigging the 2D character as you would a 3D model. Below is my first shot at making the individual character pieces, designed to be easy and ready to rig before animation.
After searching for a piece of software appropriate for my animation, I've come across "Toon Boom". Toon boom has a 21 day free trial which I will be using to make my animation.
Unfortunately, the software I've been learning to use at home, "Toon Boom", has been blocked by a proxy at my college. That meaning any work I do will have to be at home until it is fixed.​
I was unable to make any usable animation in "Toon Boom" before the trial period expired. so I have moved to the pixel-based frame by frame software "Piskel" Which enables me to more closely follow my intended art style.
While working with "Piskel" I've come across several issues, one of which is lack of fine movement while working with pixel art. You can only make considerably large movements because of the size of each pixel. A potential fix to this is to increase the number of pixels I use in the image, however, that would exponentially increase the amount of time spent on each frame, as there would literally be more to draw in every frame.
Another potential way around the lack of fine movement is to increase the speed of the animation while having large gaps between each frame to give the illusion of smooth movement. Example below.
The soundtrack is an original piece using a combination of parts performed by myself and also using free looped music provided by the music software. This means there are no potential legal ramifications.
I would've like to spend more time on this project, unfortunately, I'd poorly segmented my time and never got back around to the animation as the next step would be much more time consuming and difficult. I still intend to come back to this piece however, that will not be just yet. I do like the character I've created as well as the small part of the animation I was able to make.