Sanna Visser
Preparation:
At the start of the project it was my task (along with Kaylee Mulder) to make some concept art of the mermaid. I also assisted with defining what the cinematic would actually involve, in the shape of storyboards especially.
At the start of the project it was my task (along with Kaylee Mulder) to make some concept art of the mermaid. I also assisted with defining what the cinematic would actually involve, in the shape of storyboards especially.
Modelling:
Shortly after I created a basemesh of the mermaid which would be suitable for sculpting. The video below contains a playblast of the animation with the wireframe still visible on the models.
Some smaller edits followed later on such as adding eyelashes and doing some editing work on the pufferfish and it’s single blendshape.
As it turned out the spikes of the pufferfish were very prone to looking wonky, and it took some time to minimize the effect.
Shortly after I created a basemesh of the mermaid which would be suitable for sculpting. The video below contains a playblast of the animation with the wireframe still visible on the models.
Some smaller edits followed later on such as adding eyelashes and doing some editing work on the pufferfish and it’s single blendshape.
As it turned out the spikes of the pufferfish were very prone to looking wonky, and it took some time to minimize the effect.
Animation:
My main task was to animate the entire cinematic, with exception of the sealife that dwells in the background. Naturally most of the work lay with animating the mermaid, but the camera, the pufferfish, and everything they interacted with also demanded a fair share of time.
My main task was to animate the entire cinematic, with exception of the sealife that dwells in the background. Naturally most of the work lay with animating the mermaid, but the camera, the pufferfish, and everything they interacted with also demanded a fair share of time.
Initially, everything came down to blocking out the animation, and figuring out whether the plan for the cinematic was going to work. In the end, due to time constraints, several shots were eliminated while others were welded together.
After the camera and the blockout had been approved, the actual animating began. The fact that this all took place underwater did add a level of difficulty though. Dozens of videos were regularly consulted, like ones that featured people mimicking mermaids swimming, which were especially useful. Sadly I did not have complete freedom with the rig, as it had a habit of turning the shoulders inside-out as the arms were stretched too far. So next to keying the main animation, this process also involved finding a lot of work-arounds for the problems within the rig.
Once the basics of swimming and all the other neccesary key-poses were down, weight had to be added to the movement. From time to time it would appear that too much, but mostly too little time was assigned to a certain movement, and the animation would look hasty and flat, rather than showing contrast and capturing interest.
After that all that remained was polishing the animation. This mostly consisted of simpler things like making the movement of the mermaid fit with the movement of whichever object she was interacting with, whether it was the pufferfish, the boot or the hook. Which in itsself wasn't particularly difficult, but this turned out to be a surprisingly long process, which didn't allow for any faults in the key-animation without requiring me to re-polish all the other keys.
After the camera and the blockout had been approved, the actual animating began. The fact that this all took place underwater did add a level of difficulty though. Dozens of videos were regularly consulted, like ones that featured people mimicking mermaids swimming, which were especially useful. Sadly I did not have complete freedom with the rig, as it had a habit of turning the shoulders inside-out as the arms were stretched too far. So next to keying the main animation, this process also involved finding a lot of work-arounds for the problems within the rig.
Once the basics of swimming and all the other neccesary key-poses were down, weight had to be added to the movement. From time to time it would appear that too much, but mostly too little time was assigned to a certain movement, and the animation would look hasty and flat, rather than showing contrast and capturing interest.
After that all that remained was polishing the animation. This mostly consisted of simpler things like making the movement of the mermaid fit with the movement of whichever object she was interacting with, whether it was the pufferfish, the boot or the hook. Which in itsself wasn't particularly difficult, but this turned out to be a surprisingly long process, which didn't allow for any faults in the key-animation without requiring me to re-polish all the other keys.