Animation Stage 3 Evaluation

For my final animation of the year I wanted to create good character models and not just basic models like my second animation. My animation was inspired by Ricky Gervis, who in a live show broadcast on television commented on a fact about Polar Bears. He mentioned that Polar bears cover their noses as they sneak up on their prey. This hides the Polar Bear as the landscape is all white and the Polar Bears fur also looks white. I found this very funny and thought it would make a good animation. My second character I decided would be a Penguin, even though the animals live opposite sides of the world. This was because the animation I believed would be funnier than if the character had been a Seal or another Artic animal
To create the models I using the 3D model site http://www.turbosquid.com/ as reference. I found 3D models of a Polar Bear and a Penguin, which helped me build my characters. I created an all white background for the animation as a cloudy blue sky would have ruined the joke. Omni Ray lighting was used to light the scene as a Sky light took several minutes to render one frame. When I was happy with the lighting I finished putting the bones in the models. I had less trouble with the rigging this time, only having a problem working out how to attach the neck bones to the spine. When the rigging was solved I had to adjust the bone envelopes on models as they were affecting parts of the skin which I didn’t want affecting. The problem areas with the envelopes were with the legs on the characters. The penguin legs were affecting each other when they were moved, which took a while to solve. The problem with the Polar Bear was that the legs were creasing, which I couldn’t fully solve. The problem I believe is because the model needed thick legs and could have been hidden had I been able to put fur on the model.
Animating the film was straight forward for the first time I used multiple cameras showing the Penguin and the Polar Bears point of view. I rendered as I went along so I could see if the animation was working well, which was helpful for the final edit.
Last of all was sound which had an actual Penguin call on it and footsteps in snow. I am pleased with the final animation as I believe it’s my best one yet.