Rendering

I have been working on offsetting some of the movements of both characters so that things don't move at the same time. For example, in a turn, the hip would move, then the chest, then the neck and head. I think this makes the movement of the characters look more natural. Below is the animation after offsetting the head and chest of both characters in places:




I think this does look a lot smoother than the previous version that I posted. The offsetting has had the biggest impact on the doctor. It has allowed the head to keep moving after the chest has already stopped. This creates follow through which gives the illusion of weight to a movement which in turn makes the animation look more natural.

Now that I am happy with the movement of the characters, the next stage is to add the materials to the scene. Similar to the other scenes, the set is very simple so that it does not get noticed over the animation. Below is the final movie with all of the materials and lighting done:




As I said before, I have kept the materials very simple so that the audience don't concentrate on anything other than the animation. I have used a different colour for each character so that there is a difference between the two. I have used a neutral colour for the patient and quite a bold colour for the doctor, this is just to emphasise that the doctor is the dominant character in the scene.

The lighting is also very simple. I have used one main light above the characters to cast the shadows and two other point lights to make sure that the dark areas on the characters are not too dark.

I have also fixed the head drift for the patient character at the beginning and half way through the scene. I think this has really tightened up the animation of the patient as his movements look realistic all the way through now.

I am really happy with the outcome of this piece. I think the animation of both characters is of a pretty good standard and it is clear to the audience what each of the characters is feeling all the way through the piece.

However, one area that I would have worked on a lot more if I had a biit more time is the hands of both of the characters hands. Theye are in pretty much the same poses all the way through the animation. It works ok because the doctor is holding objects and the patient is resting on the bed but I think some more variety in hand positions would have taken the level of the animation up a gear.