Assignment #7:
Facial Expressions and Sit Extremes

Assigned: Thursday, November 6th, 2014
Due: Thursday, November 13th @ 5:00 PM

Part 1: Cardinal Expressions

This week you will be working on facial expressions. There are six main expressions: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, Surprise, and Fear. You will be using the Corruption rig for these expressions. Keep in mind that even the slightest details can change how the face is read. Use the mirrors in the lab and yourself as reference. Also remember that the position of the head can change how an expression is read, so feel free to rotate the neck control.

You will be using this file as a starting point:

O:/unix/projects/instr/capstone2/cse459_au14_rigs/corruption_rig_expressions.ma

It has a preset camera looking at front and side instances of the face. You just need to click the quick playblast button on the production shelf to output the cardinals when you're done posing the face. If the camera setup slows down the scene or ever gets in your way feel free to temporarily hide the face_render_cam_grp node.

Set a key every 40 frames using the specific sequence of expressions. They will be automatically labeled in the playblast:

000 - Neutral
040 - Joy
080 - Sadness
120 - Anger
160 - Disgust
200 - Surprise
240 - Fear

Part 2: Sit Extremes

You will be continuing work on the sit this week in three phases:

1. Improve your key/layout poses based on any feedback you recieved from the staff and your peers.
   
   
2. Create facial expressions to supplement the readability of your poses. Choose expressions that enhance and make the narrative of your sit more clear. They don't have to always be an exaggerated form of the six cardinals. Your expressions will most likely be some mild degree of or variant of them (such as the "sly" smile, "greedy" smile, "tired" smile, etc). It really depends on what your story calls for.
   
   
3. Begin filling in your extremes. Also remember to continue blocking in facial expressions. As you create these poses you may find that timing and positioning may need to be adjusted. This is completely fine, especially at this early stage. You may find it helpful to periodically get feedback from your peers as you advance your motion.
   
   Just pose the extents of your character's actions, kind of like the bouncing ball high/lows or the jump poses. Don't worry about doing too much with breakdowns this week.

To unlock the face rig in your existing Maya files select Corruption's top con and set the "P Face Anim Vis" and "S Face Anim Vis" attributes to 1.

Note that the face rig is separate from the body rig. When you select all anims with the Ctrl+Shift+a menu, you will be selecting either all of the body anims or all of the face anims.

Part 3: Object Interaction Exercise

Follow this tutorial covering object interaction using constraints, do a playblast using the playblast button when you're finished, and turn it into Catalyst. Don't worry about polishing the motion on the ball - the focus is on the technical aspects of using constraints.

Grading Criteria and Turn-In Checklist:

You will be submitting your files into Collect-It on Catalyst. Below is a list of criteria we will be using for grading, in addition to a list of the files you will need to turn in for each part of the assignment along with naming specifications.

Also indicated are the minimum requirements for what we expect to review for your motion check-in.

Motion Check-In:

• Some cardinal expressions OR revised sit keys with facial expressions.

Part 1: Cardinal Expressions

• For Turn-In
  
  
• [lastname]_[firstname]_cardinals.ma
  (Maya file containing your cardinal expressions)
  
  
• [lastname]_[firstname]_cardinals.mov
  (Final playblast of your cardinal expressions)
  

Part 2: Sit Extremes

• Grading Criteria
  
  
• 24 fps
• Resolution of 1280x720
• Fixed "render_cam" perspective
• Principles of animation and posing that we have covered thus far
• Acting
  • Does the scenario of your sit read?
  • Is the character's motion appealing? Does it entertain? Make us feel something?
• Facial Expressions
  • Do they read?
  • Do they contribute to your narrative?
    
    
• For Turn-In
  

• [lastname]_[firstname]_sit_extremes.ma
• [lastname]_[firstname]_sit_extremes.mov

Part 3: Object Interaction Exercise

• Grading Criteria
  
  
  • The constraints appear to work as described
    
    
• For Turn-In
  
  • [lastname]_[firstname]_obj_interaction.mov