Reflection #85 – May 25

Yeah May has been nice c:

It was a troubled month but also so much was going on. At first when looking at my folder, I had the impression I wasn’t very productive but that soon changed.
For starters, I finished all the animation pieces done in Moho and wrapped them up in neat videos, which I can all show and talk about here!

To give an overview of Moho as a software:
It’s used primarily to create vector-based drawings and animate them using the rig and morph actions set up for them.
It has not been ease to get into at first, I thought it would be more straightforward given the simpler nature of 2D than 3D where I previously had experience with. My first attempt, however, was not realized very well. I then took a step back and decided to tackle things slowly to learn the software like a beginner, following tutorials and finding simple methods to create simple rigs before even thinking about the animation process. And this helped a lot! I grasped more about the limitations as well as the opportunities through Moho and could better tailor my models to what I could do with them. The video above shows the functionality of my latest vector rig in that case. Knowing what to do with it now, I would have loved to know prior to tackling my animation project as it would have been very helpful animating my characters then. But since the animation part of the short is nearly finished, that will have to be a possibility for my next animated project.

Another feature I wanted to try out with Moho is the warp function of png files. Basically making flat surfaces more dimensional. Doing so with a ‘wild’ image would have been too cumbersome as I definitely needed each idividual layer group for this to work properly. The empty background elements had to be painted over for some more detail where e.g. the arm would move and some detail like the fog in the background would need to be cut out and layered back in. I am very glad I had used all these layers before which made the process now so much easier.
The rest was very straightforward with the knowledge I gained in my prior exercises in Moho, there just were lots more point-based rigging involved which can get quite complicated with you have a chaotic layer structure. I don’t know to what extend I will be needing this in the future, this example feels pretty overanimated for me but the main goal here was to experiment with what works with the software and I think I have gathered quite the insight and I haven’t even tried out the physic-effects!

So FMX went down – a smaller festival aimed at branche insiders, some very versed and well known individuals and artists went there. I was moving from panel to panel because so much was interesting to me so much so that I didn’t really do much socializing to find other artists and merely staying in my group for convenience sake. It’s something that’s bugging me now that I think about it but I think when you’re in the moment and busy all the time thinking about where to be and what to see next, you tend to lose your grasp on the bigger picture. It definitely was a nice event and I’ll probably be visiting again next year if it’ll still be possible for me as a visitor. I also again worked for the ITFS, the big partner festival for animation shorts and films for a more general audience, though I really felt that I want to take in more versatile roles on the festival. Though all in all, I’m still very happy that I went there again as it’s a sense of community in that office I haven’t seen or heard from anywhere else so far.

After that week, I started to be very exhausted. But I needed to get working on my application documents as I felt the pressure of it piling down on me, which was all in all not very helpful to get some energy back. But I think I handled it well, I didn’t just take one or two days off but slowly eased in to take more breaks over the course of the week, socialize more and don’t put any more pressure on myself. I did want to edit the making-of videos of my last 4 biggest projects, which certainly helped staying in touch with davinchi for everything editing oriented, but I also felt that these videos start losing their charme for me. At least making them that is. I will have to consider if it’s really that good to keep up with doing them and focus more on short clips or anything related to animation really as that’s what I enjoy more. Though also it’s nice to have these videos so I’m not totally on one page or the other,

Oh this reminds me, the fruit hat piece for this year is due and I think I’ll make it my next project for this month. And I do have a lovely scene in mind that I thought up sometime last year and thankfully wrote down so I don’t need to be in brainstorm mode in the otherwise still very full month.

After this upcoming week, I’ll go to Annecy animation festival in France, woah, camping a while week for the first time in over 10 years, I’m horrified 😀
But yeh, I’ll try not to make the same mistake as with FMX and try to socialize more, it’s not like I know what to do there anyway – there is no organized overview of all the panels offered!

And last week, I had to continue working on a student film set, which ate up the first half of the week, on the other half, I promptly decided to go to my hometown and visit my family, to get some rest and have a nice day with my dad for fathers’. I also took the opportunity to borrow some camping gear as I would barely be very prepared otherwise. But let’s see, the following week is to get some rough edges sorted out and be properly readied for the trip. I’ll write about it thoroughly in my next reflection!

Alrighty, a lovely and bright month to you! And happy pride month! ^v^
~Souvillaine