Brief
To create a 10-15 second animation that loops seamlessly, which sets up an expected pattern, lulling the audience in, then breaking that pattern while still completing the loop.
Challenge
This is a chance to show off advanced animation skills, visually satisfying design, and injecting character and personality into a short piece. This requires a jump in mood, from pleasant to surprising.
Research
Over the last few years, social media has developed a taste for satisfying videos, looping animations, and, to no surprise, satisfying looping animations.
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Lots of satisfying animations follow a simple movement pattern with high quality materials, studio lighting, and a calming vibe.
Looping Animations
Satisfying Videos
Satisfying Looping Animations
With this project, we wanted to break this newly established mold, and jumpscare our audience with their satisfying video collapsing into a trainwreck midway through.
Proposed Directions
Guitar Pendulum
Follwing a pick playing some satisfying chords before the pick falls, disrupting the vibe. Ratatouille-style abstract animations would add some nice secondary action.
Ball at the Beach
A more somber piece at first, 2 kids playing with a beach ball that gets swept away. The
RatBurger
A cute, simple assembly line animation showing hamburgers being made. Along the way, a dead rat plops down instead of a patty.
Development
First Pass
I had done a guitar animation prior to this, so I had some custom assets to set up my scene. Once the 3D scene was set, I needed music. After grabbing an acoustic guitar, I riffed on guitar for about 30 minutes until I found some pretty chords to arpeggio with. I then had a visual reference for the pick's movement and timing. The first pass was wicked barebones. It was all about timing; nothing but rhythm mattered for the first pass.
Previous guitar animation
Figuring out the chords
Animating with Ref
Second Pass
With the bones of the animation in place, I could flesh out the design and make it more appealing. I didn't have the timing for the ending down yet, but most of the piece was feeling solid.
Third Pass
Lot's of little details were developed. My creative director advised me to push the realism, as it's more interesting to see realistic objects moving unrealistically than unrealistic objects moving unrealistically. I tried adding palm trees at create a more Hawaiian vibe, but they were too cartoony, which didn't complement the more realistic style.
Attempt 1: Vibrating the strings to
emphasize the pluck. Doesn't look natural afterwards.
String Animation
Attempt 2: Formula
Oscillates the string
Looks nice but not realism.
Attempt 3: Breaking down the movement with math.
Guitar strings vibrate and oscillate in a unique fashion. There is a middle point that goes back and forth, but also moves up and down the string
I had to make the center of my sweep oscillate on the x and z axis independently without affecting each other or the y value.
1E01 and 1E02: The ends of the string
Step1: Middle point. Y value is locked
proxy1: Oscillates the string
end_point_distance: moves the
Xpresso
Mapped global coordinates of proxy1's x value and end_point_distance's z value to step1.
step1 now moves in x and z without disrupting y.
Incorporated on the low string.
More realistic
Issues:
Vectors cannot be negative.
Each string needs its step1, proxy1,etc remapped specifically.
I did not incorporate this new technique into my animation in time.
Final Deliverables
4 x 5 Variation
16 x 9 Variation
Recap
This project instilled in me the importance of detail. The end of any project is like a house tour: Sure, the foundation can be solid, but the details inside are what matter. Both hiring a new employee and buying property are large investments in the future, and if there's anything that sticks out like a sore thumb, there's no deal happening. Despite not having a final that's as cohesive as I originally wished, this project put me in a headspace to flesh out all of my projects henceforth. I'm content with my animation skills on display, and plan on finishing this in the future.