Character Design
When looking in industry, these skills are usually looked at as two separate positions. You can either be a Character Designer (Modeler) or a Character Animator. There are also other positions pertaining to character design such as Character Rigger, Character Concept Artist.
I have done some research on two positions which relate to what I am working on for our team project: Character Designer/Modeler and Character Animator.
Character Designer:
Each character is created first as 2D sketches, filled out, coloured, edited in programs such as Photoshop and then placed into a 3D modeling engine such as 3DSMax or Maya. From here the character is modeled out through polygon modeling. The Character designer is also responsible for all texturing on the character to finalize the design before it is sent off to the Character Rigger, then Character Animator.
Each character is designed according to the specifications and needs of the game. Is this going to be a Playable character? is this a non-player character? or they an enemy or an ally? The characters are also designed according to the target audience. Take Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for example. One of their monster designers Yoshiyuki Oyama talks about creating different enemies for the game. He developed the enemies to fit into the game world that would entertain both Zelda fans and new comers to the series. He wanted to create this monsters to give a sense of nostalgia for the long time fans of the series, as well as allowing for new twists and surprises, giving the game a fresh new look. (Nintendo Power Interview, March 2006)
With Twilight Princess in particular, they used a main character designer who did all the 2-D concept work, before handing the designs off to a modeller. This is Yusuke Nakano. He designed all of the main characters for the game as well as many of the non-player characters. He decided to keep the nostalgic feeling and keeping to the designs of earlier versions of Link and Zelda, while adding a more medieval feel to the characters as well as adding darkness to fit in with the environment designs. (Nintendo Power Interview August 2005)
There is a great deal of thought and innovation that must go into the character design, making this one of the most appealing positions in the animation realm.
I have done some research on two positions which relate to what I am working on for our team project: Character Designer/Modeler and Character Animator.
Character Designer:
Each character is created first as 2D sketches, filled out, coloured, edited in programs such as Photoshop and then placed into a 3D modeling engine such as 3DSMax or Maya. From here the character is modeled out through polygon modeling. The Character designer is also responsible for all texturing on the character to finalize the design before it is sent off to the Character Rigger, then Character Animator.
Each character is designed according to the specifications and needs of the game. Is this going to be a Playable character? is this a non-player character? or they an enemy or an ally? The characters are also designed according to the target audience. Take Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for example. One of their monster designers Yoshiyuki Oyama talks about creating different enemies for the game. He developed the enemies to fit into the game world that would entertain both Zelda fans and new comers to the series. He wanted to create this monsters to give a sense of nostalgia for the long time fans of the series, as well as allowing for new twists and surprises, giving the game a fresh new look. (Nintendo Power Interview, March 2006)
With Twilight Princess in particular, they used a main character designer who did all the 2-D concept work, before handing the designs off to a modeller. This is Yusuke Nakano. He designed all of the main characters for the game as well as many of the non-player characters. He decided to keep the nostalgic feeling and keeping to the designs of earlier versions of Link and Zelda, while adding a more medieval feel to the characters as well as adding darkness to fit in with the environment designs. (Nintendo Power Interview August 2005)
There is a great deal of thought and innovation that must go into the character design, making this one of the most appealing positions in the animation realm.
Character Animation
Character Animator:
Just as the title implies, the character animator is in charge of animating the character and making them come to life. The animation must comply with chosen personality traits, important gestures within gameplay mechanics and other specifications.
While the character animator must be familiar with all aspects of animation and rigging, this does not mean that they will be creating the rigging for the character. In most studios for either game design or animation, there is a middle person in the character pipeline who creates all the rigs for animating. The animator is in charge of actually animating the character.
there are also different types of character animators. One will be specifically for animating during gameplay, while the other (generally part of another production team on the same project) will be in charge of animating for cut scenes, giving the character a smooth, seamless motion.
Another interview from one of the animators on Twilight Princess, Keisuke Nishimori says in animating Link as the Wolf they had to take a few things into perspective such as how the player should view him, control him. How will other player characters such as Midna (riding on the wolf's back) behave? They chose to go with 3rd person view same as if you were controlling link as a human. They decided that if you were controlling the wolf on it's own, it would be difficult to steer the character, where as with Midna riding the wolf, it is now much simpler to control where the character is going and what it is doing. (Nintendo Power Interview November 2005)
Just as the title implies, the character animator is in charge of animating the character and making them come to life. The animation must comply with chosen personality traits, important gestures within gameplay mechanics and other specifications.
While the character animator must be familiar with all aspects of animation and rigging, this does not mean that they will be creating the rigging for the character. In most studios for either game design or animation, there is a middle person in the character pipeline who creates all the rigs for animating. The animator is in charge of actually animating the character.
there are also different types of character animators. One will be specifically for animating during gameplay, while the other (generally part of another production team on the same project) will be in charge of animating for cut scenes, giving the character a smooth, seamless motion.
Another interview from one of the animators on Twilight Princess, Keisuke Nishimori says in animating Link as the Wolf they had to take a few things into perspective such as how the player should view him, control him. How will other player characters such as Midna (riding on the wolf's back) behave? They chose to go with 3rd person view same as if you were controlling link as a human. They decided that if you were controlling the wolf on it's own, it would be difficult to steer the character, where as with Midna riding the wolf, it is now much simpler to control where the character is going and what it is doing. (Nintendo Power Interview November 2005)
Comparing the Positions to personal skill
Two current open positions are: Senior Character Artist & Senior Character Animator
both these positions are currently being offered by Spark Unlimited Inc. creators of Lost Planet and Lost Planet 2. The positions are available for production on Lost Planet 3.
Senior Character Artist Required Skills:
Demonstrated professional, exceptional visual and technical understanding in sculpting, 3D modeling & texturing (both high- & low-resolution characters).
• 4-5 years professional character modeling experience on multiple projects. Proven industry experience, including shipped game projects strongly preferred.
• Thorough understanding of Autodesk Maya, Mudbox or Zbrush.
• Experience and/or education in sculpting and drawing organic forms with an emphasis on human, biped and quadruped shapes.
• Experience sculpting facial blend shapes, facial animation and lip-synch.
• Experience with skeleton/rig creation.
• Excellent communication, time-management and organizational skills. A strong ability to work across multiple disciplines to gather feedback and address cross-functional issues. Penchant for practical innovation and the ability to bring new ideas to the table.
• Passionate player of games with an ability to analyze competitive products for their strengths and weaknesses.
link to posting: http://www.creativeheads.net/job/10975/senior-character-artist-in-sherman-oaks
My Skills:
- I have proficiency and understanding in Autodesk Maya and ZBrush
- Education and Experience in drawing organic forms specifically human, biped and quadruped forms
- experience with skeleton/rigging and animation
- excellent time management and organizational skills
- passionate gamer
After completing 445 I will have proficiency in facial blend shapes, animation and lip-synch
Senior Character Animator Required Skills:
Demonstrated professional character animation experience in the entertainment industry, showing command of weight, timing and posing through key-framing.
• 4-5 years professional character animation experience on multiple projects. Proven industry experience shipped game projects highly desired.
• Thorough understanding of Autodesk Maya.
• Strong understanding of classic animation principles and its fundamentals (staging, timing, anticipation, follow through, exaggeration, squash and stretch) as well as the ability to create the full range of lifelike performances from the subtle to the dramatic and powerful. Demonstrated by a strong portfolio.
• Experience animating both male and female bipedal characters that showcase both acting/pathos and action performances.
• Experience in animating creatures, as well as, mechanical (machinery) animation.
• Experience with facial animation and lip-synch.
• Excellent communication, time-management and organizational skills. A strong ability to work across multiple disciplines to gather feedback and address cross-functional issues. Penchant for practical innovation and the ability to bring new ideas to the table.
• Passionate player of games with an ability to analyze competitive products for their strengths and weaknesses
link to posting: http://www.creativeheads.net/job/11115/senior-character-animator-lost-planet--in-sherman-oaks
My Skills:
- Proficiency and understanding of Autodesk Maya
- Commercial Animation experience and education, understanding of animation principles and fundamentals
- experience in animating creatures, male and female human in commercial animation
- experience in animating biped creatures in autodesk Maya
After completing IAT 445 I will have proficiency in facial animation. With future practice and my own personal projects I will gain the ability and knowledge to animate and model quadruped and mechanical features.
The main thing I would require for either of these positions is the 4-5 years professional experience. Any game design or animation studio you will look into for a job will state they want at least 4 years professional experience, making it slightly difficult for someone straight out of school to get a position right away. This is why it is so critical to have a strong portfolio in multiple areas of animation.
both these positions are currently being offered by Spark Unlimited Inc. creators of Lost Planet and Lost Planet 2. The positions are available for production on Lost Planet 3.
Senior Character Artist Required Skills:
Demonstrated professional, exceptional visual and technical understanding in sculpting, 3D modeling & texturing (both high- & low-resolution characters).
• 4-5 years professional character modeling experience on multiple projects. Proven industry experience, including shipped game projects strongly preferred.
• Thorough understanding of Autodesk Maya, Mudbox or Zbrush.
• Experience and/or education in sculpting and drawing organic forms with an emphasis on human, biped and quadruped shapes.
• Experience sculpting facial blend shapes, facial animation and lip-synch.
• Experience with skeleton/rig creation.
• Excellent communication, time-management and organizational skills. A strong ability to work across multiple disciplines to gather feedback and address cross-functional issues. Penchant for practical innovation and the ability to bring new ideas to the table.
• Passionate player of games with an ability to analyze competitive products for their strengths and weaknesses.
link to posting: http://www.creativeheads.net/job/10975/senior-character-artist-in-sherman-oaks
My Skills:
- I have proficiency and understanding in Autodesk Maya and ZBrush
- Education and Experience in drawing organic forms specifically human, biped and quadruped forms
- experience with skeleton/rigging and animation
- excellent time management and organizational skills
- passionate gamer
After completing 445 I will have proficiency in facial blend shapes, animation and lip-synch
Senior Character Animator Required Skills:
Demonstrated professional character animation experience in the entertainment industry, showing command of weight, timing and posing through key-framing.
• 4-5 years professional character animation experience on multiple projects. Proven industry experience shipped game projects highly desired.
• Thorough understanding of Autodesk Maya.
• Strong understanding of classic animation principles and its fundamentals (staging, timing, anticipation, follow through, exaggeration, squash and stretch) as well as the ability to create the full range of lifelike performances from the subtle to the dramatic and powerful. Demonstrated by a strong portfolio.
• Experience animating both male and female bipedal characters that showcase both acting/pathos and action performances.
• Experience in animating creatures, as well as, mechanical (machinery) animation.
• Experience with facial animation and lip-synch.
• Excellent communication, time-management and organizational skills. A strong ability to work across multiple disciplines to gather feedback and address cross-functional issues. Penchant for practical innovation and the ability to bring new ideas to the table.
• Passionate player of games with an ability to analyze competitive products for their strengths and weaknesses
link to posting: http://www.creativeheads.net/job/11115/senior-character-animator-lost-planet--in-sherman-oaks
My Skills:
- Proficiency and understanding of Autodesk Maya
- Commercial Animation experience and education, understanding of animation principles and fundamentals
- experience in animating creatures, male and female human in commercial animation
- experience in animating biped creatures in autodesk Maya
After completing IAT 445 I will have proficiency in facial animation. With future practice and my own personal projects I will gain the ability and knowledge to animate and model quadruped and mechanical features.
The main thing I would require for either of these positions is the 4-5 years professional experience. Any game design or animation studio you will look into for a job will state they want at least 4 years professional experience, making it slightly difficult for someone straight out of school to get a position right away. This is why it is so critical to have a strong portfolio in multiple areas of animation.
My Weekly Team Role
For my team I will be doing both Modelling and Animation.
I chose to do these roles as they are something I am extremely passionate about and want to get better at. By honing these skills early on I will have a better portfolio in the end, and a better understanding of the programs used once in industry.
I feel the challenges we will face with animation will be in our time lapse idea. We want to be able to animate and show time lapse through 3d animation, but we have little experience in doing something like this, or using effects in Maya to demonstrate this.
Other problems we may face will be in character animation and combining all the maya objects and files into one project file. These were some problems we faced in 343 where once we imported a character into the respective environment file all of the skeletal controls stopped working and we ran into a lot of glitches. This will be something we will have to focus on fixing for this assignment.
I chose to do these roles as they are something I am extremely passionate about and want to get better at. By honing these skills early on I will have a better portfolio in the end, and a better understanding of the programs used once in industry.
I feel the challenges we will face with animation will be in our time lapse idea. We want to be able to animate and show time lapse through 3d animation, but we have little experience in doing something like this, or using effects in Maya to demonstrate this.
Other problems we may face will be in character animation and combining all the maya objects and files into one project file. These were some problems we faced in 343 where once we imported a character into the respective environment file all of the skeletal controls stopped working and we ran into a lot of glitches. This will be something we will have to focus on fixing for this assignment.