Final Week - A Presentation of...Manny in 'Window-Ego'

Now Showing - Window Ego (One Animated Mannequin)

Character Profile:

Name: Manny

Product Serial Number: 0102034

Manufacture Date: October 2005

Hobbies: Watching Wrestling and Weightlifting (from the TVs in the Electrical Store opposite)

Likes: Passer's-by stealing admiring glances, being the only mannequin in this window!

Dislikes: Being forced to wear tank-tops and gloves...in the middle of Summer

Although consigned to this window, Manny gets all the entertainment he needs from here. Watching the All-American Wrestling Series and Worlds Strongest Man shows, Manny has been heavily influenced into feeling that, as he is the solitary mannequin in this window, his right is to demonstrate all that he sees from the world outside. This is also a true reflection of many a vain passer-by preening themselves in the glass in front on Manny, whilst they are unware he is taking all this in to be part of his own routine...

The actions and movements (along with the blatant arrogance and posturity) of the wrestlers and body-builders both confuses and fascinates Manny, to the point of his attempt at replicating their postulations and grandoise movements at every given opportunity.

This animation is a first-hand demonstration of that...

Reflection and Final Thoughts

The process of creating this animation has certainly has its highlights and less-than-perfect moments. Coping with the handicap of not having a decent head-mesh from last semester was, initially, ever-so-slightly worrying, as I wasn't too sure how I was going to find the time to create such a detailed facial model once more, and find the time to animate to a decent standard. Thankfully, I took a proverbial step-back and contemplated some more adventurous ideas that, incidentally, didn't come with the requirement to construct a complex head-mesh, as this would be superflous to the quality of the other parts in the scene.

Certainly, the time spent creating the storyboards to decide the order-of-events was preceeded by the complications that arose through the decision to create the torso, hands and arms all seperately from each other! Although it didn't seem such an oversight at the time, I have to conceed, looking back now, I should have realised that if I was going to insert bones to connect all these items up, why didn't I just extrude from the torso in the first place...

As a consequence of this poorly-managed construction fiasco, I spent a great deal of time trying to, not only merge the hands/arms in with the torso (and wasting more time by creating the tiniest inconsequential details like fixing points and figure curves, as per a real-life mannequin!), but then to introduce the animtion sequencing to these - a part of the project which caused alot of hassle, and subsequently led to a removal of said arms/hands to construct them properly, extruding out from the torso instead!

Once all physical modelling had been completed, the introduction of the Ink'n'Paint texture map really improving the aesthetic qualities of the scene and enhancing the cartoon-like appearance I was aiming for, it was down to the animation to present all the ideas I had had from the (modified) storyboard. As I had planned the positioning of the bones carefully, the use of the Weights tool allowing greater flexability and intuivity for this process, I could explore the possiblities of alllowing Manny's shoulders, upper/lower arms, wrists and fingers complete autonomy for the most part. This, coupled with careful management of the timeline, meant I could intricately time each cameras footage sepearately.

The combination of body movement and facial expression was never going to work out completely evenly, both in terms of visual content or relative complexity. I tried to focus more on the body language, intially to allow Manny a pro-active course of actions, but also to display him following thorough a routine, most likely seen by my real-life inspirations for this animation, as they worked through their introductions and then set about displaying their physical superiority, at every possible opportune moment. Facial expression was always intended to be subtle, and the movements enhance each small section of physical gestures also. In particular, the grin before Manny goes into his main section of movements and the wink/lip curl at the end serve to punctuate the combatory feelings he is expressing but, at the same time, perhaps treating the whole demonstration as a bit of a tongue-in-cheek situation.

Once a backing track was decided upon that best fitted the mood I wanted to put across, it focused my mind into really illustrating a sense of both fast-paced movement and following a high tempo to present Manny in such a way as to give the viewer a feeling that he, although possibly the most humane inanimate object possible, is able to gesticulate and move along with it. In this instance, the music's expression and musical order give a definate beggining , middle and end, which again coincides with Manny waking, toning and then appeasing his abilities at the end.

The animation itself, as a whole, went pretty much according to plan and while there were certain points within the process that caused a small amount of grief (and when doesn't that occur, I cry!), I am pleasently suprised how the final product looks. The combined efforts of dynamic camera work, intelligently-paced backing track and visual textures, although taking a good deal of time to synergise, are fundamental in producing a character animation that is both technically fufilling, but stimulating to the viewer too.

Week 9 - Advancement of Manny's Posing (w/videos & explanations)

As I had rapid success and advancement with Manny's poses last week, it was only neccessary for me to adjust a few minor points and create a few new renders that illustrated his best features!

Many of these were needed to advertise and illustrate the work I put in to allow his complete upper body (thats including his neck & head!) to be as mobile as it could be

I've decided to post each individual camera render and explain my reasoning behind the actions I chose to portray at each stage within the animation as a whole




Scene 1

As the backing track had been chosen at this stage, my intention to place an opening panning shot to demonstrate Manny's model and his shop-window environment seemed all the more relevant. The choice of opening volume on backing track also focused the timing of the camera's pan to move swiftly onto...




Scene 2

...this brief, but emotive shot, just as the opening chord is struck! Here, I was attempting to time the opening bigger chord of the backing track with Manny's awakening, his pupils suddenly appearing to appear as though he is about to come to life for the first time. The human emotion, although only focused on his pupils here, is very strong.




Scene 3

A common move seen performed both by wrestlers and body builders (the real-life individuals Manny's actions were based on) The rolling of the head side-to-side and the raising and falling of the shoulders/chest illustrates Manny limbering up for what he is about to do next. The neutral expression on his face demonstrates focus and concentration, whilst the movement of the shoulders indicates the attention he is paying to, looking after his vital limbs.




Scene 4

Manny's arms move to the front as he tests out their maneuverability, as well as clenching his hands up to demonstrate his self-assurance as to what he is doing. The camera angle indicates the scale of both Manny, in comparison to his environment, and just how much maneuverability he has at his disposal.

Scene 5

The arm's are then brought close to the chest as Manny presents the first of several power moves that he will display in this animation. The decision to portray all these shots as close-ups highlight, not only the time spend in creating an accurate scale model of a shop mannequin common features, but also the subtle, restrained movements that I have included that still demonstrate emotion and definate gesticulation not seen if otherwise in an open shot.

Scene 6

The proactive, sly grin is a facial animation again commonly seen by body builders, as almost a show of partial-arrogance, but that esteemed self-assurance that they know their position amongst others. The end of the shot where he drops his mouth is a variation, again seen in wrestlers and weight-lifters/body-builders where they will give away this hint of emotional connection, but then scrub it away at the last moment before they are about to 'perform'




Scene 7

The longest single scene, the camera is capturing a lengthy series of postulations and gesticulations all intended to present Manny's demonstration of his flexability and visible effect he would have (if he really was out there, in the real world!) Also ,the tempo of the backing track adds a feeling of urgency and fast-pacing to the actions displayed on-screen. The panning of the camera again indicates his scale compared to his environment, but this illustrates the feeling (and motioning) that you wouldn't want to enter his performing space when he is doing these actions - the pacing of the backing track accentuates this effectively.




Scene 8

The final pose, in which he displays a characteristic all too often seen by wrestlers especially. The gesture of bringing Manny's biceps up towards his mouth and the representation of him moving his head/lips towards them in defiance. The motion of them being brough down against his sides demonstrates a relaxed, but still all-too-alert feeling that is commonly seen after a body-builder has finished his round - the climax of the backing track adds to this feeling of tenacity.




Scene 9

Again, an extreme close-up can capture the finer details in this animation, but also command the viewing of emotion contained within it. The combination of the wink and the curl of the upper lip accentuates the sneer that Manny would portray as a feeling of "well, you've seen what I can do, now what..." The final clash of the backing track concludes this rather perversive display of facial gesticulation.