Animation In Progress

Redesign

2012-01-22T19:44:00.001-05:00

Lately I've been redesigning my website. I just find that its kinda a pain in the butt. I like designing stuff. Let's not get that wrong. I just wanna make sure its perfect. So I set it up with the layout I like. Now to make all the pieces work well together and feel seamless.
Building websites isn't really my thing. But I have been getting better with the layout and my idea is clearer. As long as I get my content up there, it could be a blank white page (but that's boring).
Anyways, the layout and design of a page makes it easier to see an artists work. If the layout makes it confusing to see a persons work, its really a strike against the artist. If I can't figure out what you did or the style of your work from your site, how will I know you can do the job. At least, that's what I think when employers look at my site. What they are really thinking, I can only guess at (as I've not had to hire anyone and haven't looked at sites to hire an artist. I've only looked because of my curiosity.)
What makes a great site to show off your work? You guys should let me know. I really want to know what every bodies opinion is on this. Is it the ease of getting to where you need to go? Or is the creative design really more involved than we think? Are you coding your site by yourself? Or do you use a tool like dreamweaver or indesign? Your opinions are always welcome.

Recap!

2011-12-22T19:03:00.001-05:00

It has been a few weeks (maybe months) since I've updated this. I really try to keep this updated...I swear. My life just gets too busy. I like updating this, even if I'm the only one to read it. Reminds me what I've been doing and how I've felt about certain things. Hopefully, I stay on the topic of animation.
Since September, I've been working pretty consistently at Edgeworx Studios. They do get some awesome projects. In November, we delivered a project called 'Bones of Turkana' for National Geographic. It won't be airing until April. My co-worker, Edmund, really took those challenging renders and made them manageable. And the renders came out beautifully. I won't give away too much, because I think you should watch it. Its pretty interesting if your into science and history. Really gives you some incite into our history as a species.
The project I'm currently working on is a Titanic special on how the Titanic actually sank. Apparently, James Cameron got it wrong. As far as the sinking goes, that's all I'll say. I'm trying to get you interested in tuning in. Its a lot of fun working on modeling and animating something that everyone has heard of. This project is still in progress. It'll be airing in April (100th anniversary and all).
I'm not sure of the exact air date of these projects. TBA (the air date is probably already set, I just can't announce it if I don't know it). There are also some exciting projects coming up on my roster that I'm pretty sure I can't mention. Just know that they are cool, because I said so.
I've also started the People & Polygons NYC group. So far, we've had pretty good turn outs. We'll be planning our next meet-up soon. Aiming for early February. It's been a pretty solid turnout so far. I've met some cool people and have managed to get friends working at different studios to come out and meet other friends they hadn't met before. If you're interested, leave a comment and I'll get you the info. Or you can email peopleandpolygonsnyc@gmail.com.
That's been it really. Not too interesting. Hopefully, I'll get some more animations and art up on here. Its been too long. I'll have to make a more conscience effort.

When to use Motion Capture

2011-09-02T01:04:00.000-04:00

The question. When is it better to use motion capture over hand keyed animation?
-Many people are under the impression that mocap is a faster way to get animation done. - If everything goes according to plan and you use the mocap as is, without splicing together clips, then sure. But no one wants to just use the mocap as is. The actors are usually different sizes than the characters the actions will be placed on. An animator will have to go in and make adjustments to the file in order for it to look natural. In reality, most of the mocap I've cleaned has been anywhere from 50% to 85% there. That's anywhere from 15% to 50% of cleaning and retargeting.
-It looks real and it doesn't require a good animator to make sure the movement is correct. - Well, in some alternate reality, that might be the case. Here on earth, you can always tell when a good animator worked on a mocap file or a mediocre animator. In my experience, the animator behind the scenes makes or breaks the motion. An advanced animator can clean up to 10 times as much as someone just starting out. Rule of thumb, an animator can average about 10 seconds of animation a day.
-Mocap gives you the freedom to work with many different takes before settling on the final one. - Here I agree. The actor can take on a scene in any number of ways. A good director will now how to get the actor to perform well. If there is no direction on set, however, the actor will most like produce poor movements or do things incorrectly. I don't know how many times I've seen shoots where the clients came ill prepared and expected the studio holding the shoot to play the role of director. As clients, they know more about what they want then the guy sitting behind the capture station. His job is to capture the files and organize them so that it won't be a headache to go through them later.
Its like real acting. You can't just stand there and say to the actor 'Go, do the movements'. Every time that has happened, the actor just stood there, and shrugged. There was no walk through, no direction. How would they know what to do? Knowing what is needed is key. A script, a shot list, and a goal.
-Mocap is used for every game out there, it must be easy. - Ummm, that's not true at all. Depending on the video game, some of the studios out there have preferred mocap. But not every game is made with mocap animation. Yes, its a great tool to use for characters walking or interacting in a certain way. Have you played any games lately? I really don't think that anyone has a big enough stage to capture certain leaps, dives, bounds, swinging from trees, rafters, etc. Some of that motion might be mocap, but no one can mocap a person flying. People don't fly by themselves. An animator has to go in there and make it look like we can fly. My hat goes off to them.
-Mocap seems like a pain in the a$$. Might as well just pay an animator to do it by hand. - I do love animating key poses. Its a lot of fun. But sometimes mocap is just a better solution. If you want real movement, like super realistic, mocap can be a great asset. You'll need good actors and a solid director to get the motion you want. And not to forget, a great mocap team. If you want a more cartoony look, well, you're better off staying away from mocap. Mocap really is for a more realistic look.
-"I have this great idea for a short/show/pilot. It's about this ::insert animal here:: and takes place in a ::insert scene here::. I've been thinking about maybe using mocap for the main character who is a ::insert animal here::. It would probably be easier to mocap a person, right?" - LMAO. I'm not gonna say how many times I've held back tears when someone has asked me this because of how hilarious this seems. No. You cannot ask a Human to walk around like a specific animal. No matter how many times you try to get them to move like a cat or a dog or an elephant, it just isn't happening. Yes, Andy Serkis has been a great actor, but I really don't think you realize how much of a budget comes with him and his type of service. There are very few humans who can move around like animals. Mostly because we have different skeletal structures. Maybe we can do Apes and other primates, but a horse? Are you kidding me? If I really have to explain the differences, I might just cry.

I think I got most of the obvious issues when people think of motion capture. It really is its own art form. Mocap has some great advantages. People just need to educate themselves a little more when they think about using mocap.

Dear Ladies of New York

2011-08-17T20:58:00.000-04:00

Please Close your Legs! Ok, so I might not just be talking to NY ladies. Probably ladies everywhere. But if you wear a skirt or a dress that is on the short side, when you sit, please don't show the world.
I don't want to see your inner thighs. I don't even want to see my inner thighs sometimes. Yes, its summer and it is hot out. But do you have to spread your legs on an air conditioned bus or subway? Think of it this way. Do you want to see some strangers inner thighs and undies? Do you want a perve to give you dirty looks while placing his hand above his crotch? Do you really?!
I'm sorry about this rant, but its not just a courtesy to cross yours legs or keep them closed. As far as I'm concerned, its a safety issue. Even if its just a safety issue for my sight and every other person who would rather not have a full on view of something that should have been covered.
This blog is supposed to be about animation and art. But sometimes something happens when you must address the world or your small audience. We shouldn't have to stand, or sit, with issues like short skirts and the issue of how to sit in a short skirt. Either don't wear skirts that short, or don't sit (at least, across from em).

Animation Test I did recently

2011-08-02T15:23:00.000-04:00

This is an animation test I did recently for a job. Any feedback is welcome.

The ESPYS

2011-07-13T15:34:00.000-04:00

Anyone going to watch the ESPYS tonight? Well, if you are, you'll be in for a treat. Along with some fellows over at Mocap NYC, I worked on cleaning the mocap for some cool character stuff. I'm not exactly sure when you'll be able to see the pieces I worked on.
Here's the info for the ESPYS: http://espn.go.com/espys/#!/behindProduction/video=6764850/
It was a fun project and I enjoyed working with the fellows over at Mocap NYC.

Reelly?!

2011-07-01T17:36:00.000-04:00

I just looked at a bunch of reels for fun, and I'm not afraid to admit, I like to sniff out the competition, but it seems like a good portion of them put a little bit of everything they've worked on. Even the not so pleasant looking stuff. I know. They spent a lot of time on it. That's fine. I just want a quick taste of your talents, not to watch every single thing you worked on.
Does this bother anybody? I'm used to thinking that 1 to 2 minutes tops is what a good reel should be. What's with the 3+ minutes for a personal reel? Studios can do more than a person. I've seen some awesome reels for some larger studios that got close to 10 minutes. I didn't get bored cause it was all cool stuff. But someones personal demo reel doesn't need to be that long. I was watching a few were I kept looking at the timeline. If I look at the timeline at all, there has to be something wrong. (Or maybe, again, that's just me.)
And what is with the focus on stuff that looks like it might be student work? I like looking at student stuff. As a matter of fact, I think I have bits and pieces of my own student stuff on my reel. I can understand people right out of college doing it, but if you've been working awhile and have the ability to make a reel that is 4 minutes long, cut the student stuff! Not all of it, just chop it down to a few seconds, maybe like ten. And if you really want to show you student stuff, put it on your site as such. Put your thesis up, put assignments up. I'm not opposing the whole student work. I just want to see what you can do, personally and professionally. Is that too much to ask?
Sorry for the ranting, I just get passionate at times and want to slap people onto the correct path in life.

Updated Reel

2011-04-08T00:07:00.000-04:00

I've recently updated my reel. Its almost there. I've gotten some feedback already, but I can always go for more.
What do think? Any parts bother you? Let me know!

LizzKupfer.com

How Long is your Reel?

2011-04-06T16:54:00.001-04:00

So, I've seen a bunch of reels and I've made a few myself. My own reels are almost all under a minute. In and Out. No extended cuts. Simple and to the point. But does there come a time when a minute is not enough? I posed the question to a few friends and most agree. Get whatever message you want to convey in a minute.
How long is your reel? Do you agree? What reasons do you have for having a longer reel?

Been a few weeks

2011-03-24T17:31:00.000-04:00

Well, its been a few weeks since I last updated my blog. I've updated a few things on my site and resume. Haven't done that in awhile. I don't like updating the info, but its necessary. How else will people know what I've been up to? I'm working on getting some animations polished up and hopefully posted in the next week or two.
Working on my own stuff can be kinda awesome and daunting at the same time. You can only blame yourself for failing. But then you can also only credit yourself for succeeding. And you can never know with out putting yourself out there.

Ideas!

2011-01-06T20:59:00.000-05:00

So, I've actually been playing with this in my head for a little, and I think it'll make for a great short animation. It's pretty much a modern take on a classic dance scene starring Fred Astaire and some dancing shoes. Having a background in dance, I've always had an admiration for Astaire's handsome footwork. So smooth and confident.
Anyways, here are some images of what I'm thinking of doing as far as the style of the shoes go.

These are a pair I saw on that were nice and clean with some great color (black is cool too, but I'm really feeling the color). You can see more angles on this blog: http://www.indigofan.com/tag/shoes
I am also playing around with the idea of woman's shoes.

Aren't these shoes darling? I thought so too. Maybe I'll do a dancing pair of shoes.
If your having trouble trying to figure out why just shoes, here's what I've been watching over and over: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xsddz_the-best-of-fred-astaire_fun I wish musicals would make a big comeback, the choreography is always awesome to look at. And when you have dancers like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers to stare at, its always a great show.
Well, that's all I have for now.

Lip Sync

2010-11-19T17:05:00.001-05:00

So, I started this with the intention of actually finishing it. It's not, but I think its a pretty good start. Again, this isn't finished, just showing you what I got so far.

Comments are very welcome!

P.S. I will be doing some body animation. I'm taking a break from this animation and working on some walks. Feel like I need to brush up on that.

Go Google Yourself

2010-11-08T17:33:00.000-05:00

Have you ever Googled your own name to see what would come up? I have. And the first 2 results are my website. But underneath, its this other woman from New Mexico who is involved in some sort of political fraud. I thought my name was pretty unique. Kupfer isn't a very common name in the US (maybe in Germany). I guess I was wrong. Cause Ms. Elizabeth Daisy Kupfer seems like a shady person.
For all of you who don't know me, my middle name is not Daisy (thank goodness).
Just something weird I ran across while searching the interwebs.

A new month

2010-11-02T00:44:00.000-04:00

So, I attempted to try and do the 11 second club for October. Didn't really finish the lipsync let alone the the animation. I'll finish the lipsync part and do some body blocking, maybe tomorrow...or maybe Wednesday. Tomorrow is election day. Gotta get out my vote and maybe visit my parents in the process.
I was animating a few minutes ago, but animating while tired doesn't really turn out good animation. I'll probably go back and fix some of the lip shapes when I open the file again. It's really a push to do this on my own. No one is paying me to produce a product and I have no deadline except the ones I set myself. I think that's why I'm not doing more...I have no personal deadline. I'll have to set up a schedule. It's funny how you forget these things. Producers are the ones that tell you when they expect things done by, and how much there is to do by whatever date. When you do it all yourself, you forget that you kinda have to act like the producer/director/writer/everything. I'm an animator. None of those other things usually concern me. And that, I think, is the issue.
This time I'm doing it right. I'll download the clip from 11 sec club, block out how long animation should take, then block out animation. And this time I'll do it in time to maybe submit.

More drawings

2010-10-22T19:41:00.001-04:00

I've got some more of those drawings. If something is blurry, its because I'm taking pictures of them with my phone instead of scanning them in. None of them are completely done. Still got some ideas for them. Just putting them out there so you can see what I'm working on.

Why so sad?

2010-10-22T19:31:00.000-04:00

Saw this over near Bedford Ave in BK. So much emotion....it gets to me...

When I'm right...I'm right...

2010-10-22T02:17:00.000-04:00

I'm a good judge of character. When I first meet a person, they're whole appearance effects my views on them. Not just how they are dressed, but how they carry themselves, how they enter into conversation with others or try to exit a conversation. Starting to close a door before a conversation is completely over tells me that you have no respect for me. Your life is more important than mine, you control the flow of a conversation. I stick my foot in the door, figuratively, all the time. I don't necessarily lay down and take it. It all depends on the situation.
For instance, our new neighbors downstairs have that annoying habit of playing their music too loudly. It was louder today for some reason. Holly knocks on her way out. The music doesn't lower. After a few minutes, Holly returns and a conversation goes on about how the music is so loud that they can't hear the knocking on their door. Fed up, and trying to work on some animation, I go down to ask our friendly neighbors to turn it down. Knock on the door once. The music lowers, I figured they got the message. I walk away. Before I even get back to the steps, the music is raised to its original volume. I walk back over, knock again (loudly, because it wasn't heard clearly the first time), the volume lowers, I knock again, loudly. The clicks of the lock means someone is finally acknowledging my existence. Its the girl who doesn't smile. I ask that she turn down her music. She nods and starts to close the door before I finish. I explain that we can hear it throughout our whole apartment. Her response was that the stairs were noisy. WTF!? I go on to say that it can be a noisy place if we make it that way (with a look on my face that was probably very bitchy after I was trying to be very nice).
Really?! The stairs are noisy and you hear everyone come in...so in response to all that noise you blast your crappy dance music? Walking up stairs in my building takes less than a minute. They creak, because they are old. The building does not look new. It looks like its old. If you do a simple search of an address online, you can find out what year a building was built in. Try it. Where ever you move, you should do some research of the neighborhood and building you are moving to. Who knows, maybe your house was built on a swamp. You move in and you start sinking. The foundation cracks and you start to get flooding. Mold starts to build up. Would you have moved to that house if you had known about that swamp? Or is ignorance bliss? I hope you don't think that. Because ignorance leads to people making assumptions about things they shouldn't. There would be a lot more smarter people out there if they didn't choose to be ignorant.
Unless you move to a condo, creaky steps and floors probably exist in your abode. Get used to it, or move into a friggin' condo.
So after I got all flustered on that whole situation and I settled back down to animate, I got to know my rig a little better. Took me awhile of playing around with the controls on the face to figure out what I was doing. I haven't used Maya in awhile, so I forgot that Ctrl d was Duplicate and not what it is in MotionBuilder (deselect). I made a whole bunch of copies of controls. Silly me. I think I'm gonna try to do something for 11 second club. I really like the clip this month: Star Trek. The idea is to start with some strong facial animation, then build out some strong poses. (I always have started with the facial stuff, at least when it comes to lipsync. Its easier to focus on when you don't have body parts moving around it. I probably should try working the other way to see if I like it or if I produce better results).

A Title Image

2010-10-21T00:49:00.000-04:00

Yay! No more silly font. I had to put something a little more personal. And no, its not a font. I just doodled it out. Maybe I'll make a font of it. It's playful and readable. A bit too loose at the moment, the beginnings are definitely there.
I was going to work on some animations today. Somehow I got distracted. Not that difficult to do on a beautiful fall day. It wasn't sunny, but it wreaked of fall outside my window. I couldn't let it go. Went walking around my neighborhood. My new neighbors downstairs also have this annoying tendency to play their music loudly. My room has been week buffered (rug, several things hanging on my walls to disburse sound, and my loft bed that is probably absorbing most of the music when I sleep), but its really annoying when the base is loud enough to travel trough all my buffers. In the two weeks they've been here, I've asked them once to turn the music down. So have both my roommates. And my roommates cousins who are visiting from France and who are hearing most of the music because they are sleeping above the speakers. I think its too loud if my feet are vibrating when I walk through my living room. I might practice my routines for my tap class in the next few days just to show them how annoying it is. (I don't normal practice between classes, which is kinda bad, but I rarely have time. Get home from work, the last thing I want to do is start jumping around. Most times I rather just play a video game or watch whatever is on the TV.)
So the reason I didn't animate today was I was too annoyed by my neighbors and too lazy to say anything to them. I also think that the girl downstairs is a bitch. No smile when I met her. She's got that "I'm gonna play my music as loud as I want" vibe. That's what headphones are for. The guy seems nice. He smiled.
At least I got an image instead of silly blogger font.

More Drawings

2010-10-18T12:23:00.000-04:00

The top drawing started off like most of my drawings like that. Then I saw a silhouette on the side that I had not originally planned. Turned out pretty cool. The bottom drawing is something I did over the weekend. A mixture of things I've done in the past and stuff I just started playing around with.

Girl

2010-10-15T13:31:00.000-04:00

Doodle Oodle

2010-10-14T19:25:00.000-04:00

Started doodling at work when I was waiting on a file to start animation on. I think its a cell. Squirting something out of its little utters I guess. It looks funny. Thumbs up in my book.

Some Sketches

2010-10-09T02:13:00.001-04:00

More Ideas. The top image just started off as a bunch of swirly lines. I wanted to see how it would turn out. Wound up putting a girls face in there for fun and it didn't turn out so bad. I'll have to go back and finish it up.
The bottom image is something I just like to do sometimes. I've done pages of what the bottom right of the image looks like. I decided to changing it up a little this time. I like the randomness of the pattern. Cool doodle.

Some Photos

2010-07-12T22:30:00.000-04:00

These photos are straight from film unedited. Some of them I'm going to do some touch up work on. Imperfections on the lense and whatnot. Overall, I think they came out pretty well.
The tree, the fire escape, the graffiti and the signs are all near me in bk. The rest are from random places around Manhattan.
I really like how the wooden pallets came out, especially the blue ones.

Mirror project

2010-03-07T18:13:00.000-05:00

Project I started about a week ago. Had this in my head for awhile and it's coming out better than expected. The mirrors added more weight than I would have liked (knocked it over earlier and had to re-glue one mirror back on). I kinda like it as is. I originally wanted to add color, but I like what the lines do on the wood. I'm probably going to add some metal brackets just as a precaution. I don't want the mirrors to fall again from a higher distance to the ground...would suck very much.
Anyways, its another work in progress.

Side Projects

2010-03-01T17:02:00.000-05:00

So, I haven't been inspired animation wise in the past couple of weeks. Tried learning Blender and failed, well, more like I realised that Blender is some programmers wet dream. Navigating in that program isn't like navigating in Maya or 3ds Max. Oh well.
Instead of working on animation, I've been drawing/painting out some other ideas. I'm not a painter, but I like mixing colors in a graphic way, and that's how I paint. Maybe when my interweb connection is up and running I'll post a few of them. There is one piece I'm more excited over than the others. Its been in my head for awhile and I just recently got the courage up to put it together. And I know exactly where to hang it...

Website and Stuff

2010-02-11T19:05:00.000-05:00

Was working on my website today. Ran into a problem. I'll figure it out eventually, but I feel like I made a silly mistake. Like putting down the wrong path name. Everything works, except my reel doesn't show up. I'll investigate tomorrow. Done worrying about my site for toady.
Working on a new character and story. Not sure where its going yet, but he's a wonky little guy. I'll be posting sketches of him later this week or next week. It is Valentine's weekend and all.

2009 Reel

2010-02-02T13:59:00.000-05:00

This is my reel with work from 2007 to the present. And as always, it continues to be a work in progress.