Armature Plans

Incredibly basic drawings for armatures for Richard and Roy. Only to get a basic idea of where the joints need to be.  These will shortly be sent to Malvern Armatures to get a more accurate technical drawing of the final armature. 

Video Assist & Onion Skinning

I'm writing my dissertation on video assist and onion skinning, and whether or not they're vital in producing a strong animated performance in stop motion animation. 

After talking to Tim Allen, link to website here, and Reuben Loane, link to website here, although i'm sure you're well aware of them! I discovered something new about the way i have been animating for the last 3 years. 

Its wrong!

Well wrong, or at least inaccurate. In short, when animating, you can use a tool called 'onion skinning' to view half of the previous frame, and half of your current live view in a kind of ghosting of the two being viewed simultaneously. 

After talking to Tim and Reuben though i've found out that this is only useful for very basic animation, and becomes more of a hindrance than anything else when it comes to actual complex character work. 

SO!

Yesterday, as a separate test, i animated a simple wave completely blind (with the computer screen turned off). and it was difficult to say the very least. But today, i've animated the same movement with only video assist (flicking back between live view and captured frames, not overlaying multiple frames at the same time) and got some results i am quite happy with considering its a completely different way of animating. I'm hopefully going to do more tests before i start filming for my final film to further practice this method. 

I hear 'Malvern Armatures' are really great!

Haven't posted in a while, would like to say i've been really busy but thats only really true as of the last few days.

I've been working on a few things simultaneously but i'll start with the Armature. 

The armature i'm using for Arthur in this film is a bespoke build from Malvern Armatures, they offer a service to send you your armature ready built but I wanted to have a go at building it myself just to properly learn the process. With none other than the owner of Malvern Armatures sat RIGHT NEXT TO ME! (mainly because its my dad, this does not come with the regular service)

After laying out all of the pieces to make sure I had everything I needed, I started assembling the armature. 

Using 'Loctite' to secure the ball joints means they won't come apart if done correctly during animation.

After each joint was locked, (the loctite needs around 12-24 hours to fully dry) it was time to start assembling the final armature, making sure to clean each of the balls individually with lighter fluid to get rid of any excess Loctite. 

Due to my design not being accurate enough on the side view, The neck joint was too low on the body, meaning the movement was restricted (the assembly on the right). Those lovely people (person) at Malvern Armatures sent me down a re-designed chest assembly with a new neck and wider shoulders to attach onto the rest of the Armature within a couple of days

Any there we have it! Arthur Quasar in his simplest form.

For more information on Malvern Armatures, Click on the tab at the top of my blog! or simply go to 

http://www.malvern-armatures.co.uk

Malvern Armature - Professional range

Update on armatures available at Malvern Armatures. New professional range come with improved ball joints and overall more slender look. Armatures still available for custom made orders.

Visit 

http://www.malvern-armatures.co.uk/armatures_professional.html

For more information on the professional range.

Malvern Armatures

Absolutely brilliant new stop motion armature website. Bespoke armatures at affordable prices.

Chose from a selection of pre designed standard humanoids or design your own creature.

Used for my cowboy project at the end of last year and currently in use for my minor project psychiatrist character. 

Production photos to come 

http://www.malvern-armatures.co.uk/