VCDM 396 Blog

 One of my favorite things to do in my free time is check out animated parodies of scenes from movies. For example I watched an animated parody of the scene from Avengers End Game where Spiderman was dying and telling Ironman "I don't feel too good Mr. Stark". It is an iconic scene from the movie that really stands out to people. Its one of the hardest scenes to watch in my opinion. It brought a lot of emotions out of me. In the parody the characters looked weird and comical and also had comical voices. Its funny how easy it is to take all of the emotions out of a scene by making the characters look and sound different.   Parody  

 I came across an animation for a game I played on the Oculus Quest. It is a mouse falling over and getting back up. Every small movement and adjustment the mouse made was very life like and made the character feel more real. After she fell she shakes her head as to regain consciousness. Its a small detail but it goes a long way. While playing the VR game the mouse was very close to me. She would sometimes look up at me and wave. It was much easier to grow attached to the character when she felt so life like.  Mouse Falling    Mouse Dropping Down

 Disney Stories Matter Initiative Flags Classic Toons for Racist Imagery In an article from animationmagazine.net the author discusses Disney's action against some of their own racist films from the past. Many old animations showcase racist imagery, such as the crows from Dumbo , or the cats from Aristocats , and The Jungle Book. Disney will flag these movies that showcase racism to show that they are against it and to educate people. "Disney+ will be adding warnings to several classic films from the Walt Disney Animation and live-action catalog, shining a light on some of the problematic characters and racist depictions that have not aged well in the animation vault". I love that Disney is not trying to hide their past but instead trying to use it to educate people. This is what the advisor reads when you select one of the movies. “This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rat...

 Shotgun Farmers Art Style There is a game called Shotgun Farmers. It is a arena styled shooter where if you shoot your gun and miss, your bullets will plant themselves like seeds and then they grow into a gun that you can pick up and use later. All of the guns are based on plants found on farm. For example the shotgun is a stalk of corn, the bazooka is a giant carrot, and a revolver is a string bean shooter. I personally love the game and its art style. One thing that really stands out to me is the player models and how they are missing appendages. There is a body, head, hands, and feet, but there are no legs, neck, nor arms. All of the parts are floating.  I find it interesting that even though the player models have floating body parts, it doesn't look weird, the animations still make sense. Its like you can imagine where the arms and legs are, and the fact that they're not there doesn't take away from it.

 Red Dead Redemption 2 Animations I recently finished the campaign for Red Dead Redemption 2, otherwise known as RDR2. It has to be one of the best looking game this decade. The characters are extremely realistic and so are their animations. While playing through the game my mother watched because she felt as though it was a good time for bonding and because it was like watching a movie. I have never seen animations in a video game look so good before. One thing I noticed while playing was that there was a slight delay from when I pressed a button and when my character would move. I looked up the problem online thinking there was something wrong with the game. While doing research I came across this quote by Dan Lowe (currently at EA’s Motive Studios in Montreal).  “We could probably do 100% realistic animation in games if we weren’t fighting player’s expectations for response. Typically, a character in most shooter games is going to go from zero to 4.5 meters a seco...

 Kill Animations in Among Us There is a game that has been blowing up recently called Among Us. The idea of the game is that there are shipmates working on a spaceship doing task like fixing wiring, or refueling the ship and there is an imposter among the innocents that has to try to kill them. A lot of people are playing this game and a lot of animators on YouTube are making parodies of the game. One thing that really stood out to me the most about the game is how simple the animations are. All of the animations in the game are simplistic. The only animations in the game that really stand out are the kill animations. The kill animations are quick, creative, and pretty comedic.  I've seen many animators make their own kill animations for the game because of how iconic they are becoming.  Kill Animations