Sims 4 Toddler Animations

Here is a compilation of some animations I did while working at EA on the Sims 4 Toddlers Engagement Pack. Enjoy!

Summer Sketchin

So, this summer i've been working on a film with my classmates and David Chai. It's the last week of summer so it's crunch time to get this film finished! Here are some sketches of people I did in class during some down time.

Brush by Shiyoon Kim (https://gumroad.com/l/shiyoonink)

Ani 118b Final Reel

Here is my final reel for Raquel's Ani 118b class this semester.

Figure Drawing: Maya Edition!

I just got back home from the first ever SHM figure drawing maya edition session where we reference a live model and then pose malcolm in Maya. We started with some 1 minute poses, then 5 min, then 10 min poses. Obviously, I couldn't do any of the 1 minute poses so I just drew quick gestures in my sketchbook. For the 5's I really tried, but it was so hard to get the pose down so quick. I got the main spine pose but the hands and face remained default (sad pancake hands). The 10's were really awesome, just enough time to get the macro pose down including some face posing and hands. As time went on, I got a little faster at posing the body. This was a really neat exercise, I can see this helping to speed up my blocking process. Hopefully next years officers will continue this.

Anywayssss.... I was able to quickly render some screenshots out with some lighting but no shadows. So, without further ado, my poses!

5 min poses!

 10 min poses:

Accidents Happen

Last month I purchased some neat rigs from LongWinterStudios.com. Seeing as I already had 3 shots using the Malcolm character in my rig, I decided for my next project to use my brand new Tom rig! Check it out! This is still a WIP but this is the best I have for now =)

Am I Pretty?

Here's my first shot from ANI 118b with raquel

BurgerMunch

So, this past winter break, I got together several other people to create a short dialogue sequence for our own learning experience and to get a head start on ANI 118b. Initially, I was planning on doing a shot with a monologue/dialogue from a movie/tv show. However as time went on and I couldn't find one that piqued my interest, I decided to create my own short story with some of my project mates as voice actors. Hence, BurgerMunch was born.

It's a story about Brandon, a pompous young man fresh out of college, and his adventure to BurgerMunch where he struggles to pick out the perfect meal. Monica, the un-ambitious cashier, lends no help to Brandon. Doug, an overweight grumpy father, adds tension to Brandon's final choice. This short animation is voiced by the talents Ryan Eways, Arturo Miramontes, and Kim Mucha.

The short as a whole is still in progress, but I have been working on my shot so here is a progress vid.

Updated animation reel Feb 2014

Animation Reel (Jan 2014)

Yesterday I went to an event at the Walt Disney Family Museum called Animation of Frozen with Lino DiSalvo, Wayne Unten, and Jason Figliozzi. After the talk, I talked to Jason and found out about a Disney recruiting event happening today in SF. So, with much excitement Youri, Samia, CL, and I trekked on over to the event!

We stood in line for about 4 hours to get feedback on our reels. Luckily when it was my turn to get my reel to get looked at Jason was available! He gave me so much good info I'm very inspired to get my reel done and really improve my CG stuff.

Here's the reel I showed him. Hopefully by March I'll have new and improved CG stuff!
 

ANI 128B- Final Reel

A Package for Otis

Here is another group sequence that Mickie Vannier, Kendrra Thoms, Grace Lacuesta, Eddio Tseng, Kimberly Mucha, and Youri Dekker and I worked on.

I animated this shot in the sequence:

A Package for Otis - Shot 03 from Nicki Yee on Vimeo.

The assignment was to create a short animation of a human inspired by an animal. Our group chose to have Otis be inspired by a cat.


A Package for Otis (Short Sequence) from Youri Dekker on Vimeo.

The Hunt

This semester,  I worked on a short climbing sequence with Grace Lacuesta and Youri Dekker.

Here is my shot zoomed in a bit more and with a jump at the end, I call it "The Extended Edition":

Here is the sequence all put together:


The Hunt (Short Sequence) from Youri Dekker on Vimeo.

ANI 128B Midterm

24 hour Animation 2013

So last week, I participated in my first 24 hour animation challenge. The challenge was to make a 30 second animation in 24 hours with a team of 5 people.

I was lucky to have such awesome teammates this year: Ryan Eways, Ryan Ramirez, Youri Dekker, and Grace Lacuesta. I was assigned group leader and made all the final decisions and delegated jobs. It was my first directors job. I was so nervous but I quickly learned how great everyone was to work with, our energy level was high throughout the challenge. I was surprised at how hardworking everyone was and how everyone was pushing extra hard to get this film done on time.

This years prompt was: What would you do if you only had 24 hours left to live?

This is how our night went:

1. Brainstorm!!!!
2. Nail down storyboards
1. Have Ramirez and Grace work on Main Layout
2. Work out storyboards with Eways and Youri
3. Animatic and Vis Dev
1. Youri works on Animatic
2. Eways on Caveman Design
3. Work with Ramirez on look of Background
4. Grace on Dinosaur Design and Cave Paintings
5. Design Props
4. Animate!
1. Animate sc 1(caveman writing on wall and then spotting asteroid)
2. Youri animates sc 2-3 (main caveman animation)
3. Grace animates sc 4 (dinosaur)
4. Eways animates props and assists Youri (asteroid and smush)
5. Clean up!
1. Begin shooting approved shots
2. Start clean up
3. Start Color
6. Sound
1. Eways begins collecting SFX
7. Compose
1. Finish cleaning up shots
2. Youri composes and edits in AE
8. DONE!!!!

We finished like 45 minutes before it was due. It was such an amazing and tiring experience.

Today we just found out the top five teams and our team placed SECOND! yay! Go Team YERDL Turtles. And congrats to everyone else who participated in the challenge. Great job guys!

And finally, here is our finished animation:

ANI 129b Final Reel

ANI 115 Animation Tests

So this semester I took intermediate animation aka ANI 115. It was formally an animation class where you spend one whole semester working on your own personal film. This year, my class was lucky enough to be taught by the legendary professors Alice Carter and Courtney Granner. They told us that instead of working on one film this semester, we would be working on several different tests that would help us with our observational and authenticity skills.

This semester was very stressful. My focus in the major is animation, so I didn't mind animating the tests. What was hard about the class though was being able to reach the high expectations of my professors. They pushed us hard and for good reason. I learned a lot. Most importantly, to never be okay with half-azzed work. I need to push myself a lot more if i'm going to get better and distinguish myself in the industry. I need to go the extra 150%.

I'm posting my animations that I worked on this semester in order from the beginning of the semester to the final project. I think you'll be able to tell how much my skills and storytelling have progressed - at least i hope you'll be able to. =)

Waiting Test

3 Barking Dachshunds:

a group animation where we were each assigned to animate a dachshund. Mine is the one that starts in the middle (basically the one who moves around the most)

Wave Test:

Wind test:

Coat Test:

Chair Test:

Special thanks to:

my family

my friends

Bunny

Courtney

and

Edric Yamamoto (all your crits were very helpful)

ANI 129b -- Seated Poses

Yes, so I am taking ANI 129b this semester which is advanced maya animation. One of our homework assignments was to pose our character in 5 different seated positions. It was the first time I ever posed "Eleven" and so I spent a lot of time on the first 2 poses. As time went on I got quicker and it became really fun! I am so happy I did this assignment. I learned a lot and it's only going to make me a better animator. I'm so psyched for this class!

Here are my poses I literally just finished in no particular order:

my new business card!

Yep, call me up if you have a job for me! =)

Photoshop painting

downloaded some sweet brushes! I started this painting last year and I just finished it tonight in 2013 yo! I had fun testing out all the brushes and playing with them. I think i'm going to do more! YAY

Final Sack Pantomime

For ANI 114!