Assignment goals:
Using the animation technique of forward kinematics, students will describe through animation the take-off and flight of a bird. It is the goal of the animator to create the illusion of a bird in flight. Creating natural, fluid motion is the emphasis of this project.

Minimum requirements:
Students will animate the bird taking off from a branch object and rising into normal (power) flight. Animation will be no more than 150 frames in length.
The camera will be stationary

Download the skeleton file to your maya/projects/skeletons/scenes directory.
mallard3.mb


The flight animation must address the following questions:

• rise vs. run of motion of the bird
• anticipation action prior to take-off
• amount of rotation on inner wing vs. outer wing during flapping
• speed of travel vs. wing flap rate
• speed of wing flap at take-off vs. speed of wing flap in normal flight
• overlapping motion of wing tips
• neck motion during take-off and flight
• leg motion during take-off and flight
• body rotation during take-off and flight
• motion of branch as a result of anticipation and take-off
• position of wings prior to take-off vs. at take-off.

The following animation principles must be included in your animation:

Timing
Timing gives meaning, weight and effects a viewer's perception of the action. It is controlled by the amount of time (number of frames) a particular action will take and the pace of the scene.

Anticipation
Preceding major action with a specific move that informs that audience about the major action.

Secondary Motion
Motion included to support and strengthen the main action.

Overlapping Motion / Follow Through
Parts come to rest at different times, they do not stop all at once.

Students will experiment with these animation principles in their animation . Students will continue to explore and incorporate animation principles addressed in previous assignments:

• Staging,
• Appeal,
• Arcs of Motion,
• Squash & Stretch,
• Slow in/Slow out,
• Overlapping Motion and Follow Through

1. Research:
Line of Action Drawings - Review the 12 images of the Canada goose from Wings Sweeping Through the Air. Using tissue paper, draw out the line of action for each of the 12 images. Be sure to include the head, neck, body, tail, legs and feet. But just represent them with a line which runs through the center of each body part. All of the drawings should be registered so that when you lay them on top of each other you can see the change from one line drawing to the next. Number each of the trace papers and then do a smaller drawing on each one to represent the front view of the action.
Due Monday, October 23th

Find other video reference by taping from television or going to the Library, look at the Muybridge's stills of the bird in flight in his animal locomotion book.
Due Monday, October 23th

Look through the provided footage and the footage you have located to analyze the best wing cycle and the best take off.
Due Wednesday, October 25th

Read the provided readings and look over the websites listed below.
Web Reference:
Belize Zoo Birds
Information of Bird Flight
Flapping Flight Energetics
Roy Beckemeyer's Natural Flight Page
Craig Reynolds: Boids
Due Wednesday, October 25th

Readings:

• Timing for Animation, Whitaker and Halas, Spacing of Drawings, pg. 44-47
• Timing for Animation, Whitaker and Halas, How Long to Hold, pg. 56-57
• Timing for Animation, Whitaker and Halas, Anticipation, pg. 58-59
• Timing for Animation, Whitaker and Halas, Bird Flight, pg. 108-109
• Digital Character Animation, Maestri, The Basics of Character Animation, pgs. 169 - 202
• The Animators Workbook, White, Bird Wing Positions, pg. 120 - 123

Tutorials:

• Rotoscoping the Runner, files online
  Unix - at ~mpalazzi/maya/projects/tutorials/sourceimages
  NT - at Network Neighborhood\Call\Temp\Id750

2. Analysis- Create a timing sheet from your movie files of the flight. Start with 150 frames (5 seconds X 30 frames per second) and while you are viewing the movies frame by frame, mark down how many frames it takes between the wing in the up position and the wing in the down position, and back up again.
In your sketchbook, make notes and drawings which illustrate the key positions of the wings during flight and at take-off. Use this to guide key poses for your animation.
Timing Sheet and Drawn key poses Due Friday, October 27th

3. Animation approach- This animation will be "blocked in" with key poses. The blocked in motion gives you a rough look at the timing of the piece as a whole. You will layout the piece from beginning to end with broad motion. This would be translation on the root node and some rotations on the skeletons to get the basic key pose positions. The position of your skeleton in the key poses will come from the analysis that you did and from your sketchbook drawing reference.
NOTE: Simplicity is the key to this project. Keep in mind the focus of the assignment is in the natural bird motion.

4. Assignment Due Dates

Monday, October 23rd
DUE: Line of Action Drawings
Completion of readings handed out in class
All changes to hw1 (pendulum) and hw2 (ball) on web pages complete

Wednesday, October 25th
QT movies of Swinging Boxes with sound (your version) to hw3
Swinging Boxes with sound to class video tape

Friday, October 27th
DUE: Timing Sheet and Drawn key poses
DUE: Rough motion on bird
Work day for rough motion on bird

Monday, October 30th
Refined motion of bird due as QT movies

Wednesday, November 1st
DUE: Chapter 6 The Dependency Graph, Learning Maya
Continued work on motion
Discuss how to tuck in the wings

Friday, November 3rd
Critique: animation of bird take off and powerflight (Hardware Render)
Continued work on motion

Monday, November 6th
Final Critique
DUE: animation of takeoff/powerflight - on class tape
DUE: QT movie of takeoff/powerflight in hw4





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