Spring PPJ #8 – Will Reardon

This was our team’s last big animation push. Our animation lock was the twenty-first and we pushed right up until the end. Our shots all look a lot better than they did before and I think this big push towards the deadline helped our team.

I started the week by extending the mans walk in the first scene in order to keep him animated for the full hold of the title during the shot. This was roughly another two seconds of animation to be done. Luckily, it was more of the same and extending his walk cycle was not too difficult. What took a little more time was polishing the extent of the walk so it could be ready for the lock and rendering.

Next, I worked on finishing the dog’s animation in the first scene. This meant refining his jump, which is his large action for the scene, as well as giving him just more motion throughout the scene. There were parts where he was static or drifting that had to be further animated. The hardest part there was transitioning the dog from where he looks at the man to where his jumping-off point is. I had to do it quickly but give the dog enough time to fully follow the man with his head and then think about following him.

After animating the dog I got critiques from the team and our adviser on both of my scenes. Then it was back to polishing with the critiques. I worked right up until the end like the rest of the team and I think my shots look a lot better after this final push.