Why i have started exploring programming with python

When i first started the course i thought i wanted to do only hand drawn animation and hadn't really used computer generated animation before. Last academic year and previously this academic year i have started to explore computer generated animation using Maya. I found myself becoming proficient with the software very quickly and i felt very comfortable using Maya.

However i realized a persons knowledge of using the tools inside Maya may be extensive. But in certain areas such as rigging, which is my favorite part of the CG process, it is advantageous to have some knowledge of programming to aid in approaching complex custom rigs. Programming at its basic level is problem solving which is what rigging is and is whats at the core of most creative practices. This is why programming is not ajar to Maya and creative practices but rather gels together seamlessly with them.

To back up my previous statement that rigging is enhanced by programming and that programming runs seamless to the creative practice, there are jobs available for animation companies such as rigger/TD(technical developer). This job role is what i am aiming for. In many (if not all) of the rigger/TD job descriptions, knowledge of Python is required.

The reason python is popular for rigging and technical development is because its syntax is simple and readable and it has integration into the Maya software with the Maya python API.  

some examples of Rigger/TD job requirements...

Axis Animation:

Naughty Dog Studios:

In addition to these examples python is also useful for smaller tasks such as creating pipeline naming tools and for project management. For PPP2 study task 3 i emailed a small animation company and because they are a small company they don't hire programmers to modify software and create extensive scripts however they do use python minimally to create pipeline naming tools and other project management tools.  

The uses of python and programming in general in the animation industry

Python is a popular high-level programming language and I've started studying it for a few reasons. When thinking of programming and computer science in general, the link to animation can be looked at in two ways.

Either not at all or very much, however I'm confident that programming is very beneficial to a range of jobs in animations. Maybe not so much to an animator, who just focuses on how to get movements of the characters looking natural and believable. if scripts are used in this process all he does is use the GUI(graphical user interface) of the tool to not disrupt him from the fluid process of animating.

However if the animator is working on a 3d animation using a 3d animation software such as Maya, then the tools he is using to create this fluid natural animation relies on inputs of various data. For example, a character rig in maya has joints connected to the mesh to move the character and lets say the wrist joint is rotated by 97Degrees and the controller which controls where the eyes aim is translated from position x:7,y:4,z:9 to  x:-1,y:-2,z:-7.

These values mean nothing to an animator. Even if the animator can eventually work out how far the joints/controllers have moved, the fluid process of animating natural movements has been broken by the animator having to manually work in numerical data. This is why the GUI of maya exists, to visualize the flow of data inside the program so that the animator can animate seamlessly without breaking the fluidity of the animating process.

Alot of animation companies have programmers to design pipeline tools to improve that which i have just described, letting the animator work creatively without exerting too much analytical concentration.

This is why big animation companies like Disney and Dreamworks use the same basic tools such as maya, zbrush. But due to the custom scripts and even custom software created by programmers working for these companies, the software can be used in different ways.

For example in the How to Train Your Dragon movies, the rigs were very complex with around 4000 controls, the animators need to be able to effectively and efficiently create an emotional performance from the rig, this is where custom scrips and custom software takes effect. 'A typical dragon required something like 4000 controls, half of which typically are in the face...getting those into a form where the animators could create performances from them was challenging'.

In conclusion i have decided to learn Python because programming plays an important part in the process of making an animation, it can produce tools to make the animation process more fluid and can also automate processes to make production quicker which is important when time is limited due to a deadline.




References:
Dreamworks,. How To Train Your Dragon - Tools & Software Optimization (2010Th Year). 2013. Web. 16 Jan. 2017.

SWOT study task

In one of the PPP sessions we did a SWOT analysis of other students, Brenda did one of me since we have been working together on the studio brief task. I found this task helpful because usually you dont realise all your weaknesses or sometimes your biased towards yourself. With this task however it meant that other people point out your weaknesses which forces you to realise things to improve on, just just technical animation skills but also personal areas to improve on such as having a good work/life balance and attitude towards learning new skills. In addition to the weaknesses it was nice to have the strengths pointed out aswell, this positive feedback can increase confidence if it is lacking and encourage you to work on your weaknesses whilst your strengths are assured.